


The Marauders

by SilverThestral



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Arrogance, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Hogwarts Fifth Year, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Humor, Love, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Smut, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, Tension, Wizarding Wars (Harry Potter), Wizarding World (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 52
Words: 185,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23875684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverThestral/pseuds/SilverThestral
Summary: If anyone could stick it through thick and thin it was Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Hogwarts years sufficed of mischief, a Lily Evans obsession and furry little problems, with life accompanied by invisibility cloaks, magical maps and quick witted girls. Not to mention the wonderful rumour that Remus owns a badly behaved rabbit and Minerva McGonagall ripping her hair out due to comical pranks. But the war arrives quicker than anyone expected it to, young souls ripped away from the world, immortal legends born.The life of the Marauders, spanning from their 5th year to the end of the First Wizarding War.As a result of hectic university life, I am updating as often as possible. I am truly sorry for any annoyance this causes and I promise I am trying my absolute best to whip these chapters out.
Relationships: Alice Longbottom & Marlene McKinnon & Dorcas Meadowes & Lily Evans Potter, Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom, Harry Potter & James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape, Lily Evans Potter/Gideon Prewett, Marauders & Marauders, Marlene McKinnon & James Potter, Mary Macdonald/Peter Pettigrew, Regulus Black & Sirius Black, Regulus Black/Marlene McKinnon, Remus Lupin & James Potter, Remus Lupin/Dorcas Meadowes, Remus Lupin/Marlene McKinnon, Sirius Black & James Potter, Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black & Marlene McKinnon, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter, Sirius Black/Marlene McKinnon
Comments: 408
Kudos: 195





	1. Whistles

**Author's Note:**

> Please bare through the first chapter, it's short and it's just setting up a storyline for further along in the book. I hope you enjoy :)  
> All recognisable aspects of the story belong to the wonderful J. K. Rowling.

Simon R. Crombie Jr. often invented problems and altercations, when often, there were none to be found. In his dwindling days, he liked to blame his present rises in blood pressure on a certain jet-black haired boy who lived up the street from him in the miniscule village of Godric’s Hollow, a rather strange name in his opinion. His family had moved there when he was a young boy and he hadn’t left since. His blood pressure tended reach its peak whenever the boys friends came to visit, which seemed to be occurring more often as the years went on. He had never known the displeasure of having someone distract him from his job so heavily while simultaneously paying him no attention. He had complained several times to the boys’ parents, but they simply looked down on him as the frail, old man he had become. The boy was an arrogant, spoiled bastard. 

Crombie returned from his long shift of re-wiring the old house at the top of the hill in the village. Despite his arthritis, he was still the unpleasant man everyone called to fix their electrical wires due to his long and clawed, yet skilled fingers. It was a hot summer’s night, the wind carrying the heat, as though dragging it along with the change of the seasons from summer to autumn. He was gleefully anticipating September the first when the parents of boy drove him off with strange suitcase for him not to return until Christmas. The family of three was an odd one. Never spoke a lot about anything, but spoke a lot about nothing. As well as the mother being excruciatingly nice. He hated them. 

Christmas was when the boy would come back for two weeks, in his jumping, screeching, irritating glory. Winter, however, was more bearable due to the increase in Crombie’s bank account. Unlike the British summer where light was long and people could survive without electricity for a few days, Christmas was when was when folk struggled with lights and plug sockets. This gave him far more work to do, allowing him to live more lavishly. This circled back to another reason why he hated the family with the black-haired boy. He had never earned a single penny from them and so took it as a personal insult. Everyone in the village used his services, yet they, for an unknown reason, refused him. He was pretty sure they did not even know his name. 

The whistle of Crombie’s kettle blew, announcing that it had completed its job. He heaved himself off his armchair to make his daily cup of tea. His grubby finger tore at the packet and he dowsed the tea bag in hot water, returning to his armchair after refilling the kettle for it to heat up water again. His armchair was situated to look out his large living room window. He enjoyed spying on people and watching them go about their day, which was the most interaction he ever wished to have with folk. 

Although he despised the family of three that lived up the way from him, he found them intriguing. And special. He would occasionally witness sparks ejecting from their crumbling, stone chimney as well as puffs of green smoke. Crombie knew there was no such thing as witches and if he had been present in Salem, he would have laughed for the town for its bizarre misconceptions and conspiracies. Nevertheless, he would not reject the opportunity to explore their house and see whatever sorcery they were hiding, if there was any. 

And then there were the owls. Owls at daytime, flying and hooting, without a care in the world, as though they were not nocturnal animals, but the common pigeon. His curiosity and nosiness almost got the better of him an abundance of times, but he thanked his limited tolerance for interaction for discouraging his inquisitiveness. The owls still occupied his mind at least once every day. 

He sipped on his scorching tea as flickers of stars began to appear in the sky and streetlamps started switching on across the village. He had not noticed how quickly darkness had covered the street and he could faintly hear the sound of the boys blasting music from up the street, a habit he had picked up two years ago, if Crombie’s memory served him right. Summer nights were often unbearable. 

Crombie realised he had been staring into the amber fire for some time, watching the logs turn to cinder. He could not even begin to guess what could make obscene green smoke leave a chimney from a fireplace. He shook himself out of his trance and headed to his run-down kitchen to wash the mug. There was a sudden knock at the door of his worn cottage, causing him to heave a sigh. Grumbling to himself, he turned the tap of the sink off and dropped the mug. 

He grabbed his wooden walking stick which permitted him to move faster as the constant dull pain in his right knee prevented him from fast or far without it. The pain was as a result of the constant kneeling he did for his job which in his old age, grew more and more stiff over the years. Once the pain set it, he refused to get it checked out, accepting his demise. It was one of the many reasons why he had lost a considerable amount of weight over the past few years. The village shops were quite far away from his street and he would rather lose his right leg than accept the offer that the mother of that _boy_ had given him to complete his weekly shopping for him. When she had come by his cottage with the proposition, he had yelled at his throat’s capacity for her to get off his property. He would not be pitied by anyone. 

He made it to his hallway and undid the chains that locked his front door before pulling on the latch to open it. On the other side stood two men dressed in long, black cloaks which were adorned with silver embellishments, both their dark hair slicked back. They were tall and looked rather young, but the serious faces they wore aged them. Although Crombie would never admit it, he found the men rather intimidating, he tried to hide his cowardice. He noticed both men holding long, thin sticks with figurines as handles that looked alike to snakes. One of the men was impatiently tapping a highly polished, patent shoe on the exhausted cobblestone path which lead to his house. 

‘Simon R. Crombie Jr.?’ the man who wasn’t tapping his asked as he sneered slightly at the mess he saw behind the door. Crombie was not a man to look after the roof over his head and it was no question, he was one of the biggest misers about. 

‘Yes?’ Crombie answered, his tone quizzical, The two men looked down on him from their height. He noticed he had shrunken with age. 

‘We have a few questions we would like to ask you. May we come in?’ the other man asked, his stone-cold manner contradicting the polite wording of his question. He looked younger and slightly more nervous that his counterpart who, on closer inspection, had wisps of grey hair escaping the dark that surrounded it. 

‘What sort of questions?’ Crombie asked sceptically. The older of the two granted him a sardonic smile. 

‘You’ll find out,’ he responded before he pushed by Crombie, the younger man on his tail, their cloaks billowing behind them as they strutted down the hall and into the dishevelled sitting room. Crombie limped behind them, trying to keep up. 

They stood in the centre of the room, silver rings gleaming in the low, oil lamp light that Crombie preferred. They looked around the room with grimaces that suggested someone had stuck something quite unpleasant under their noses. The looks of disgust started to infuriate the old man. 

‘Is your wife home? Belinda Imptrop?’ the older one asked, however, his eyes were not on Crombie. Crombie followed his line of vision and realised the unwanted visitor was staring at _their_ house. He scowled at the question. _So, she had changed her name back,_ he thought. 

‘No,’ he said determinedly, ‘last I heard the bitch died in Somerset, good riddance. I couldn’t tell you when, but the happy news travelled back to me a while back.’ Crombie spat the words out like poison. His manner drew the attention of the older man from the house onto him. He was sporting a newly found smirk on his now surprisingly handsome face. 

‘Ah, I see. Well, that’s unfortunate. We’ve been trying to track her down, you see.’ 

‘Why?’ 

‘Your wife has gotten herself into a spot of bother, old chap. She is a traitor and a thief. Smart, but awfully reckless woman,’ the younger man now contributed. 

‘Not to mention she was filth, dirty blood,’ the older man yet again chipped in. 

‘I’m not sure what you want from me, then. She’s not here anymore, neither in this house or on the face of this wretched planet. If that is all, I would appreciate if you left me in peace,’ Crombie said, gesturing his arm toward the door. The two men scoffed, evil smirks now plastered on both of their faces. 

The older one of the two tugged on ornamental head of the stick he held to reveal a second, shorter and beautifully carved one. Playfully, he began twirling it between his fingers, his eyes glistening in the candlelight. An unsettling feeling began growing in the pit of Crombie’s stomach. 

‘Not quite, junior,’ he chuckled as he twirled the stick. ‘You must understand, your wife has caused us a great inconvenience, and our leader does not appreciate it. Neither do we, for that matter. That was a lot of goblin gold the old hag stole. The Dark Lord wants compensation.’ 

Crombie was backed into his armchair by the other man who was glaring at him with the utmost hatred. Crombie flitted his eyes between the two men, determined not to show his fear. 

‘Have you heard of the Knights of Walpurgis, junior?’ the older man asked condescendingly. Crombie shook his head. 

‘Wal-what now? Goblin gold? I have no clue what you’re on ab-’ Crombie started to stress, his voice betraying the panic he was feeling. He was cut short by the older man raising his hand to shut him up. 

‘What a muggle. And I thought Mudbloods were so trusting. Your wife certainly was a bitch. All that undeserved magic and she kept every little bit of it from you. You must have had a great marriage,’ he said with a wink. Crombie’s brows locked together in confusion while both men laughed a cold, evil laugh. 

The kettle began whistling, its high pitch painful to the ear. Crombie couldn’t help but feel as though it was a terrible warning. 

He did not understand a single word of what these people were telling him. They spoke in code as though they were spies or criminal. He could not comprehend their laughter of where they found the hilarity in this situation. Before he had much more chance to mull the situation over, the two men nodded to each other. 

‘Enjoy hell, Simon.’ 

‘ _Avada Kedavra!_ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)  
> Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter, it's honestly an honour. I the midst of my boredom in isolation, I decided to finally take a stab at what I've been wanting to do for a very long time and finally write myself a Marauders fanfiction. I've had so many ideas for so long and started writing them on Word, but I decided I also want to share it. All your support is so appreciated and wonderful and I hope you enjoy. Please feel free as well to send me any notes or criticism about the story as well as any prompts you'd like to throw in and I'll give you full credit for ideas, gift you the work. Buckle up, cos this is going to be a long one ;).  
> Love, Julia xx


	2. Murmurs and Murders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All recognised work belongs to the wonderful J. K. Rowling.

_FEAR STRIKES AT GODRIC’S HOLLOW_

_The enchanting community where Wizards go to live amongst Muggles faced a most terrifying escapade where local resident (Muggle), Simon R. Crombie Jr. was seemingly calmly murdered on the eve of the 24 th of August under mysterious circumstances in Godric’s Hollow, _writes Opal Endermewt, Fatality Correspondent.

‘“Calmly murdered,” how can someone be bloody calmly murdered, bloody hell, these bloody journalists,’ Fleamont Potter grimaced as he read the _Daily Prophet_ out loud to his wife, Euphemia, sure to throw in a couple of his own comments. 

‘Enough with the bloody’s, keep reading, Monty,’ Euphemia ordered as she poured more coffee into both of their mugs. Fleamont sighed, grabbing a bite of toast.

_Crombie’s murder, suspected to be as a result of the Unforgivable Killing Curse, now soars the Muggle killings of the summer of 1975 to over 20 in the UK. Thought to be the work of dangerous witches and wizards, Fear has now settled across the Ministry of Magic as to how they can avoid further murders and deter Muggle attention. It is reported that recently elected Minister for Magic, Harold Minchum, has been in contact with the Muggle Prime Minister to settle ways in which they can control the outbreaks of deaths. Melissa Aberswatch, from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement states that there is no need for the wizarding community to worry as targets for attack have been primarily Muggles, however, these embarrassing scenes of lack of Ministry control over dangerous wizards does not guarantee anyone safety. As long as these dangerous entities are at large, no one is safe, imploring the question of, is the Ministry really under the control of this new Minister and is he focusing on the most prominent problems, such as, catching criminals._

‘Bloody Aberswatch should’ve kept her bloody mouth shut, makes the ministry look like a right cluster of idiots,’ Fleamont exasperated as he dropped the newspaper on the kitchen table, earning a bemused glare from his wife for his use of language. 

‘Those reporters can twist anything into a scandal,’ Euphemia said as she glanced out the window where the now empty house of Simon Crombie stood, Muggle law enforcement blocking the surrounding area with yellow tape. 

‘Which is exactly why they all need to keep their mouth shut, how that bloody _Prophet_ is still reputable, I have no idea,’ Fleamont complained as he ran his hands down his face. Euphemia offered him a consoling smile before looking up at the clock to see it was twelve in the afternoon. She rolled her eyes. 

Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were elderly, even by wizarding standards. Fleamont’s once jet-black hair that he used to test his concoctions one was now fully grey and balding, the smile lines on his face prominent. He wore a loose blue shirt with the collar undone and his trusty brown slippers adorned his feet, a look Euphemia loved on him. Her blonde self was also greying, but her hair stayed attached to her head. She dressed in floral prints and managed to keep herself looking very fine for her age. It was a tense atmosphere between Fleamont and Euphemia this morning, an atmosphere not usually present. Despite loving having their sun home for the holidays, both of them agreed the sooner their boy was on the Hogwarts Express to Dumbledore, the safer he would be. 

‘You still heading in to Diagon Alley today then?’ Fleamont asked. Euphemia nodded in response. 

‘The sooner I can get out of this village today, the better, I feel queasy,’ she replied, shifting in her seat. ‘Marlene is coming down as well. The McKinnon’s are finally back from their holiday, so we’ll have her here until it’s time for her to start term.’ 

‘That’s brave of them, to still send her here after this has all come out,’ Fleamont leaned forward on the table towards his wife. 

‘I think it’s more Marlene pushing the idea of coming here, she’ll definitely have had enough of Max,’ Euphemia chuckled at the thought of the two siblings bickering on holiday. 

‘That son of ours better getting his lazy arse out of bed then if he actually wants to join you and Marlene to go shopping, she’s meant to be here in half an hour,’ Fleamont chuckled to the rim of his coffee mug. Euphemia shook her head in amusement. 

‘I’ll go wake him up.’ 

Euphemia headed up the grand wooden stairs of the cottage to her son’s attic bedroom and walked in to find James Potter, sprawled on his stomach like a starfish in his bed, unconscious and unaware to anything in the world. His hair stuck up in every direction possible and his glasses were tossed on his bedside table. Euphemia smiled as she leant against the doorway. James Potter was something of a miracle child and so grew up in a doting household with an uncontrolled amount of pampering. He was incredibly well loved. It added to his self-esteem, more commonly referred to by others as arrogance. Despite James’ confidence, he was a good soul. 

‘Oi, Potter,’ Euphemia called out playfully, earning nothing but a hearty groan and feeble lift of the arm from her son. She snickered at the reaction and went to sit on his bed, gently rubbing his back. ‘Come on, get up, darling. We’re going shopping today and Marlene is coming over,’ Euphemia enticed James to shift his body out of bed. She received nothing but another groan. 

‘Oh Merlin, McKinnon’s coming to annoy me,’ James stated, finally rolling over onto his back, smirking up at his mother who, without his glasses, looked like a rather fuzzy version of herself. 

‘It’s her revenge from all the bullying she had to endure from you growing up. Now get up, get dressed, it’s past twelve!’ Euphemia said happily, lifting herself off the bed. 

As his mother left, James proceeded to stretch in a way that only he could deem was ever possibly attractive. Once he’d finished, his eyes scanned his room, hit with the flourish of red and gold that decked the room. He looked to his dresser where sat atop it was a picture of him and his three best friends. He grinned. 

He tossed his legs over the side of his bed and headed straight to his bathroom for a shower, running a hand through his impossibly messy hair. He stubbed his toe a fair few times on the way there due to his vision still being impaired without his glasses, but James was pretty sure he’d lost all nerves in his toes long ago. The shower was quick, and he started making a feeble attempt at taming his hair once he’d dressed when he heard an exotic voice from the downstairs. 

‘Residents of the Potter household, yours truly has arrived!’ yelled the Scottish accent of Marlene McKinnon. James could hear his father chuckling from downstairs as he grinned at the presence of the arrival. 

James and Marlene had been friends since they were in nappies, if not before then and their mothers would have had them exchange engagement rings at the age of ten if they’d allowed them to do so. The two of them, however, saw each other as nothing more than brother and sister and shuddered at the thought of them being bound by any sort of legal ceremony. Besides, James had a love of his own. The Potter’s and the McKinnon’s were so close due to their mothers who were the absolute best of friends, despite the six-year age gap. Euphemia had been Madison’s seventh year buddy when she arrived fresh faced and doe eyed in first year and they had kept in contact ever since. 

‘You ready to wreak some havoc, Potter?’ the playful Glaswegian accent rolled through James’ bedroom and he turned round to see an unusually tanned, blonde Marlene grinning back at him. Marlene was extremely pretty, with being a quarter Veela and James had watched many a man be thrown overboard by her charm. 

‘And here I thought we were on first name basis, McKinnon,’ James laughed as she ran to him and engulfed him in a hug. It was sheer luck for their parents that they got along so well. 

‘I’ve not seen you for a month, it’s back to last names for me,’ Marlene teased with a wink as she let go of the hug and went to collapse on her bed. 

‘You got your freckles back,’ James stated, catching her nose between his fingers, and pulling it as he lay down beside her on the bed. Marlene wriggled out of his grasp, whacking his arm as she did so, causing him to clutch it in mock pain. 

‘Yes, I did, and I’m very happy about it, so if you could not destroy them, that would be great, cheers,’ Marlene laughed as they both calmed down from the welcome wagon for each other. 

‘Did you hear about the murder across the street?’ Marlene questioned as she turned her head to look at him. James’ eyes widened in shock. 

‘No, what the –’ James started, but Marlene couldn’t hear the rest of his sentence as he had already bolted out his bedroom and could be heard thundering down the stairs. Marlene rolled her eyes at her friends’ lack of knowledge and followed him down. 

Marlene entered the Potter’s kitchen to find James leaning against the wooden table as his eyes darted across the _Daily Prophet_ while Euphemia was at the sink washing dishes. The blonde scanned the kitchen for any signs of the man of the house but there was none. 

‘Where did Uncle Monty disappear to?’ she asked Euphemia who turned round to see Marlene, James paying no attention to either of the women at that moment in time. 

‘He was called into the Ministry, my lovely, some potion went wrong, and Monty is still regarded as the highest in authority for some reason,’ Euphemia explained, tossing her eyes playfully making Marlene laugh. 

‘I don’t whether to be terrified about this murder or happy, cos the guy was a dick,’ James finally joined the conversation, his choice of words resulting in his mother whacking him with a tea towel, sending Marlene into fits of giggles. 

‘James Potter, watch that mouth and be respectful to the deceased! Now go and put your shoes on, we’re leaving in five minutes,’ Euphemia scolded. James grinned at Marlene and went into the hall. 

Marlene raised an eyebrow to Euphemia. ‘The _deceased_?’ she asked. Euphemia simply responded with a wink. 

The three of them soon arrived, by Floo powder, in the Leaky Cauldron where Tom, the owner, greeted Euphemia. After a quick catch up, the group headed out of the Leaky Cauldron, Euphemia tapping the meaningful combination of bricks and they stepped out onto the cobbled street. 

As usual, it was filled with bustling witches and wizards, shops selling weird and wonderful things as well as the many necessities that all Hogwarts students required. James’ eyes instantly caught sight of _Quality Quidditch Supplies_ , which had the latest _Nimbus 1500_ in stock and had James’ nose instantly pressed up against the glass. Marlene was equally as entranced. Both of them were of the Gryffindor Quidditch team at Hogwarts with James in the position of Chaser and Marlene as Seeker. 

‘Come on, you two, we have important stuff we need to buy first. This is your OWL year remember, you’ll need lots of supplies for studying,’ Euphemia tease them as she caught up next to them. Both Marlene and James groaned at the reminder of their Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations, some of the most important exams young witches and wizards sat. 

They first targeted _Flourish and Blotts_ with their supply lists for school to collect the range of books they required. James picked up his core subject textbooks from the _Standard Book of Spells Grade 5_ to his chosen subject books, such as _Unfogging the Future_ for Divination and _Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles_ for Muggle Studies. 

‘I still can’t believe you’re taking that shitty subject,’ Marlene wrinkled her nose at the Divination book in James’s stack. Marlene herself was taking all the same subjects as James, but instead of Divination, she took Arithmancy. 

The group travelled from _Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions_ where James was cornered and flirted with by Madam Malkin herself to _Slug and Jigger’s Apothecary_ where they both restocked on their Potions ingredients that were running low. They bought themselves plenty of quills and parchment to last them throughout the year as well as stopping by _Eyelop’s Owl Emporium_ to buy treats and toys for their owls to keep the happy. They finally met up altogether again at _Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour_ where Euphemia greeted them with two large ice cream sundaes that the two teenagers happily tucked into. 

‘The number of people that have stopped me and asked my about that Muggle that was murdered in the village is exhausting,’ Euphemia complained as she sipped on the milkshake she had bought herself. James swallowed his large mouthful of chocolate and strawberry ice cream. 

‘You’ve actually been harassed about it?’ he questioned, irritated that people thought his mother knew anymore about the murder than anyone else. 

‘Don’t worry, darling, people are just scared, as they should be, I just didn’t think I’d be stopped over twenty times today and asked about it,’ Euphemia reassured her son, moving his hair out his eyes. 

‘Do you think they’ll start attacking magic folk?’ Marlene asked wearily. Euphemia sent her a kind look, but a sad one. 

‘I couldn’t tell you, my dear. There are so many rumours flying around so many people at the moment that I don’t think anyone knows what’s true and what’s not. I just hope the bad guys get caught and shoved in Azkaban. I heard somewhere that Minchum is planning on stationing more dementors there but who knows.’ 

Marlene and James both gave off an involuntary shiver. Dementors some of the most fearsome and foulest creatures that walked, or rather, glided the earth and could suck every happy feeling, thought and memory out of a person, leaving nothing but despair and pain. 

On that rather unprecedented note, the three of them headed home, but not before yet again stopping at _Quality Quidditch Supplies_ to pick up some items that both of them needed and to admire the _Nimbus 1500_ again. Euphemia had a fun time filling James with hope by teasing him and saying, _you never know what Christmas will bring!_

They returned home to find the Potter’s house-elf, Mimi, setting down a large creamy chicken pie with mashed potatoes and an assortment of vegetables, her pointy face beaming with pride as they sat down at the table and tucked in after thanking her. The Potter’s treated their house-elf well, she had her own designated room and bed and they made sure she felt appreciated for everything she did. They had offered Mimi holidays, but she wouldn’t hear of it and, frankly, got quite upset whenever the subject came up. So, they enjoyed the food while she went on and got on with whatever job she deemed important at that point in time. Fleamont had not yet returned from his work at the Ministry. Fleamont was a well distinguished entrepreneur and potioneer and was most well-known for developing _Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion_ which quadrupled his family gold and so, made him a fortune. 

‘Have you received an owl back from Sirius yet?’ Euphemia asked her son across the dinner table who was hungrily shovelling food in his mouth, which made Marlene laugh at him in disgust. 

‘Nope. He’s been a bit missing in action this past week, actually,’ James replied, his worry evident on his face. Euphemia’s own forehead creased for a split-second but returned to her normal calm stance so as to not worry Marlene, who did not know the extent of Sirius Black’s situation, as far as she knew. The Potters spent a lot of their summer days worrying about the young boy who lived out the warm days at 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius Black came from a long line of pureblood wizards, almost all of whom resided in the Hogwarts house of Slytherin. 

There were four Hogwarts houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. James and all his friends were in Gryffindor, with many acquaintances spanning across the houses, some friendlier than others. Both James’s parents were in Gryffindor, the Potter’s were known for residing in that house. 

‘That’s a bit strange if he’s not replying to you, you two are best friends, brothers even,’ Marlene shared her observation as she impassively now ate the dessert of strawberry tarts that Mimi brought forward to the table. 

‘Yeah, Sirius just goes through some weird phases sometimes,’ James covered for his friend, avoiding Marlene’s eyes. 

Euphemia was about to chime in with suggestions that the two teenagers go to bed when the sound of the front door of the cottage opening sounded and Fleamont Potter entered the dining room, tired and dishevelled. 

‘Hullo,’ he sighed as he sat down into one of the dining room chairs, Mimi almost instantly at his side with a plate piled high of food and made a glass of wine magically pour itself for the exhausted man. 

‘Monty, you were ages,’ Euphemia fretted over him as he started cutting into the food. Fleamont gave yet another sigh once he’d swallowed his first mouthful, looking at the three people sat in front of him who all had expectant looks on their faces. 

‘The Ministry’s a mess, I must say,’ he exasperated as he began explaining. ‘From what I understood from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, that Muggle Prime Minister is being a right tricky bastard about this new Muggle killing. There is paperwork flying virtually everywhere and rumour has it that the Ministry doesn’t have a clue where to even begin looking. It’s getting dark out there.’ 

The table sat in silence as Fleamont continued eating his meal, James and Marlene exchanging nervous glances. 

‘You two, get to bed, it’s late,’ Euphemia broke the silence. ‘Marls, dear, I’ve set up the guest bedroom for you, your trunk and everything is set in place and I put all your favourite products in the bathroom, you can take them with you to Hogwarts as well.’ 

‘Thanks, Aunty Mia,’ Marlene replied and both she and James headed up the stairs to their rooms. She turned around to face her husband who was still piling food into his stomach. 

‘Monty. What’s going on?’ she asked urgently, her eyes searching her husbands weary face. Fleamont shifted his brown eyes to hers and she saw a hint of youth in there, a scared boy who wanted nothing more than to run and hide until all was well again. 

‘There’s been another murder. But a wizarding targeted one this time. The Ministry’s trying to keep in all under wraps, so it doesn’t reach the press,’ Fleamont answered, Euphemia giving a solemn shake of the head to the news. 

‘A Muggle-born?’ she asked, but she already knew the answer to the question. Her husband nodded in response. 

‘There’s something dark going on, Mia. Someone, somewhere, is starting a revolt.’ 

‘Against Muggles?’ 

‘And wizards of Muggle descent. And they’re powerful. Bloody hell, are they powerful.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	3. Hogwarts Bound

Remus Lupin, a sandy haired boy with a scar currently placed above his right eyebrow, tossed the shiny new Prefect badge he had received in the post not to long ago between his fingers. He hadn’t told the boys about his nomination yet. He couldn’t bear the taunting, yet hilarious letters he would receive as a response. In fact, he wasn’t sure of anyone who had been awarded Prefect this year. He had a few hunches about a handful of people who were likely to have been chosen but knew nothing definite. 

He slipped the red and gold badge into his back-jean pocket and shut the lid of his fully packed trunk, which had his initials ‘R.J.L’ on the front. Shoving his wand into his other pocket and then throwing his jacket on, he lifted the heavy trunk and started the breath-taking walk down the stairs of his house with it. He reached the hallway to find his mother and father waiting on him, 

‘Ready to go, love?’ his mum, Hope, asked in her Welsh accent as she beamed at him. Remus sent her a smile back. 

‘I think so, can’t think of anything I’m forgetting,’ Remus replied, wracking is brain one last time to try and remember anything he might have left behind. 

‘Even if you remember something you forgot, just send us a letter and we’ll owl it to you,’ Lyall, his father, grinned at him while ruffling his hair, making Remus smack his hand away, chuckling. 

Hope looked lovingly at her son before grabbing him and squeezing the little air that Remus had left after his trip down the stairs out of him. ‘You be safe now, you hear me, no funny business and do your best,’ Hope gushed over him. 

Hope had always struggled with sending Remus off to Hogwarts. As a Muggle, she had never intended to send her children to any kind of boarding school. When Lyall told her he was a wizard, she had never gone through such shock in her life. Although she was happy for Remus that he got to go to Hogwarts and that her son was a wizard, she couldn’t deny she had been a little upset when that first Hogwarts letter had arrived at their house during his eleventh summer. 

‘Yes, yes, yes, now, can we go? The train does leave at eleven and I don’t feel to keen on missing it, people,’ Remus said playfully. Lyall grabbed Remus’s trunk to chuck in the car while he and his mother packed into the car, Hope in the driver’s seat as Lyall was in no way equipped to drive a Muggle vehicle. The metal box on wheels still, quite frankly, made him a bit nervous. 

‘Are you sure they still treated you well last year?’ Lyall asked Remus, who was already pulling off his jumper in the car, leaving him in his t-shirt. It was an unusually hot day for September the first, making it hard to believe that summer was truly over. 

‘Yes, dad, I promise. They treat me the same as any other, and Madam Pomfrey couldn’t be better to me if she tried,’ Remus reassured his parents yet again. Madam Pomfrey was the Hogwarts resident nurse. The school were fully aware and well equipped for Remus’s ‘furry little problem’ as Sirius liked to call it. To many it just appeared as though Remus simply had a very badly behaved rabbit. 

‘I’m just making sure, mate. You’ve got your OWLs and everything this year as well, I just want to make sure you’ll be definitely alright this year.’ 

‘Just this year, after that, doesn’t matter if I even get eaten alive,’ Remus teased, making Lyall smirk at him. 

‘Shut up.’ 

‘I remember when I was taking my O-Levels, gosh it was a stressful time,’ Hope joined the conversation, making her husband look at her incredulously. 

‘Your what?’ he asked, causing Hope to laugh and shake her head. 

‘Normal people exams, dear,’ she explained slowly, as though she was talking to a toddler. 

‘Normal people, my arse,’ Lyall snorted as Hope laughed at his reaction. 

Remus smiled at his parent’s light bickering as he stroked one of the many scars that littered his arms as he listened while he directed his stare out the window. Before long, they arrived at King’s Cross train station where the Hogwarts Express was situated at Platform 9 and Three Quarters. Remus had missed Hogwarts and his friends, it helped him forget about what he was. He hugged and kissed his parent’s goodbye in front of the platform. Before he left to finally run through the red brick between platforms nine and ten, Lyall grabbed him for one last hug. 

‘Knock ‘em dead, son, and if anyone gives you grief, just go all werewolf on them,’ he said with a wink. Remus laughed, agreeing, before disappearing from the platform, coming face first with the bright red steam engine. 

He pushed his trolley forward, heading for one of the staff members of the train that put the trunks into storage for the ride, only to be halted by a certain dark-haired boy with aristocratic features and a charming smile. 

‘Alright, mate,’ Sirius Black grinned leaning the palm of his hands on Remus’s trunk, whose face also broke out into a grin as one of his best friends greeted him. 

‘Not too bad, dickhead,’ Remus laughed as the two boys went in for a hug, having not seen each other all summer. Remus had been on holiday in France for the best part of the summer and Sirius, as usual, had many family commitments. 

‘Dickhead was a bit harsh, I was hoping for a bit more of a “light of my life” moment,’ Sirius teased as they continued moving down the train so Remus could drop his trunk off. 

‘If by “light” you mean gigantic pain in my arse, then sure,’ Remus chuckled as Sirius scoffed at the comment. ‘How did you get away from the folks so quickly?’ 

‘They were fawning over Regulus, so I managed to get away,’ Sirius shrugged as Remus’s trunk was taken away. Regulus was Sirius’s younger brother and was much more liked by his parents for a variety of reasons. One of them was that Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor while the entire Black family prided themselves on the fact that they were all in Slytherin. Sirius had ended up being a cause of shame. 

‘Motherfuckers!’ They heard James yell from behind them while Marlene apologised after him to a mother with a young child who shot James a death glare for his swearing. Sirius smirked. 

The three boys attacked each other into a hug together, glad to finally see each other again. They were home whenever they were with each other, standing by each other through anything. 

‘As touching as this beautiful scene right here is, have any of you seen the girls?’ Marlene asked mockingly, grinning at the boys. Remus went in to give her a hug. 

‘How you been, Marls, my girl?’ Remus asked cheekily as held her in a death grip of hug. Marlene had always been close to the boys due to her siblingship with James and enjoyed their company, much to the dismay and glares of many other girls. They were very handsome boys and girls made it known that they didn’t like Marlene’s relationship with them. 

‘Ribs – breaking – lungs – failing,’ Marlene pretended to choke as Remus laughed and loosened his grip. She hugged him back happily, ‘It’s good to see you, Remy.’ 

They let go of each other, allowing Sirius and Marlene to make eye contact. 

‘You somehow got hotter over the summer,’ Sirius teased, checking her out from head to toe shamelessly, eyes scanning the white sundress she was wearing that contrasted against her tanned skin. He threw her a wink. 

‘Oi, watch it,’ James warned Sirius with a grin, his brotherly instincts kicking in as Marlene rolled her eyes. 

‘You haven’t changed, then,’ she retaliated, raising an eyebrow, but her eyes were laughing. Sirius was quite the player when it came to girls and towards the end of fourth year, he started taking advantage of the fact girls though he was good looking, and he knew it. He went through them like gum. 

‘You’d hate it if I did, Marley,’ Sirius flirted. Marlene rolled her eyes yet again and left to go find her girl friends who she hadn’t seen for ages. Only Sirius called her ‘Marley’ and it was weird when anyone else did. 

‘Well, her company lasted a whole ten seconds,’ Remus laughed, shooting a mocking glare at Sirius. 

‘Come on, I met Peter on the way in and he said he’d save us a carriage, let’s go find him,’ James changed the subject before Sirius could give one of his smartass responses. 

The boys climbed their way up the steep steps of the train and made their way through the Gryffindor carriages on the lookout for Peter Pettigrew in the compartments. Peter was a skinny lad with almost blonde hair and high cheekbones, his actions conveying his meekness and shyness. James and Sirius liked to tease him for it, while Remus was often the peace maker among the boys, ensuring the mocking nature never went to far. 

‘Ay, Pete!’ James exclaimed when they finally found him, Peter looking up from where he was sitting with a grin. They all went in for hugs before collapsing into the comfortable train seats, the four of them back together again. 

There was never a dull moment between the four boys, their conversations ranging from what they had been up to during the summer, to new Quidditch news and the various topics that had been scattered around the _Daily Prophet_. James and Sirius caught up on how they felt the new school Quidditch season would go (Sirius played as Beater for the Gryffindor team) and there were several discussions had about the new Minister for Magic as well as their thoughts about the new school year and the looming sense of dread that surrounded their OWLs. Around halfway through the journey, the elderly witch who pushed the snack trolley, for whom the boys had a special fondness for, arrived at their compartment asking if they wanted anything from the trolley. James bought them all a large stack of Cauldron Cakes to share as well as a smattering of Chocolate Frogs for Remus and a few pumpkin pasties as a savoury alternative. While tucking in, Remus reminisced about how much he loved Honeydukes chocolate from Hogsmeade and his anticipation for the first trip of the year which normally occurred around October time. Around a quarter of the way through the journey, their compartment door was slid open to reveal a fiery red head whose gaze instantly narrowed in on Remus. 

‘Remus, we’re all waiting for you in the Prefect carriage, we have a meeting, remember?’ Lily Evans stated as she ignored the remainder of the boys, leaning against the glass door. ‘Lily flower!’ James yelled in excitement so as to annoy her, successfully, as she visibly deflated from her greeting and shot him a glare. 

‘Piss off, Potter.’ 

‘Wait, Remus, you never told us you were a Prefect!’ Sirius enunciated in shock, his grin tickling his ears as he sat up from his slouched position. 

‘Yes, he is, now come on, we’re all waiting,’ Lily urged as Remus got up, grabbing his rucksack that held his school robes. He then turned to the boys. 

‘Just because I’m a Prefect, it does not give you any excuse to abuse this power,’ he playfully scolded the boys, the ghost of a smirk on his face. In the background, he heard Peter mutter the word, _bullshit_ , in an amused tone. 

‘Does this mean you’re also a Prefect, love?’ James asked Lily in a sickeningly sweet voice which made her nose wrinkle. Remus whacked James around the back of the head before leaving with Lily but looked back to him to throw him a wink. James grinned back. He could always count on the werewolf to be his wingman. 

‘Still crushing on the red-head, Potter?’ 

‘Nah, she’s just way too fun to irritate, Black.’ 

The sky grew to its usual darkness, making the boys aware that it was time to change into their robes before they could see the twinkling lights of the Hogwarts castle on the horizon, which made them all smile. They were home. 

Remus returned before long and soon the train pulled up alongside the Hogsmeade train station and all the students stepped out, those in second year and above heading towards the horseless carriages, small droplets of rain beginning to land on them, signifying the end of the Scottish summer. The four boys piled into a carriage together after escaping a girl who was already trying to sink her claws into Sirius and they were transported up to the castle, the rain growing harder. 

‘Thank Merlin it wasn’t raining when we were getting sorted,’ Peter reminisced. 

They trudged through the large doors into the Hogwarts castle and made their way up the grand marble stairs to the Great Hall where they sat in them middle portion of the Gryffindor table, which was situated at the far right of the Hall. 

‘I hope this Sorting’s quick, I’m starving,’ Sirius complained as James watched him throw a wink towards the Ravenclaw table where a group of girls started giggling. James snickered and shook his head at his best friends’ actions. 

‘You’re in luck,’ the voice of Alice Fortescue sounded in Remus’s ear as she sat next to her. Marlene took the seat next to James and then Lily and their other friend, Dorcas Meadowes, sat also, Lily rolling her eyes at the situation. 

‘And why is that, my dear Fortescue?’ James asked, eyebrows raised. 

‘We’re actually sitting next to you,’ Marlene replied with a wink. 

‘Merlin knows why,’ Lily muttered propping her chin up with her hand, her comment making James grin. 

‘You know you love us, Lily flower,’ James teased, Lily shooting a glare at him. Before she could reply, the doors to the Great Hall opened and a storm of eager-eyed and wet first years stumbled in, trying to keep up with the long a graceful strides of Professor Minerva McGonagall who could have easily walked a marathon with her pace. At the top of the four, long table of the Great Hall, but before the Professor’s table at which the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore sat in the middle of, his lengthy white beard twinkling in the candlelight, an old tattered hat sat upon a tall wooden stool. McGonagall pulled out a large scroll of parchment, looking down at the apprehensive first years with her lips pursed before turning her attention to the hat. Before anyone could say anything, a teared seam suddenly lifted in the hat.

_‘Once I was a fledging hat,_

_T_ _all and pointed without a tear,_

_On brave Gryffindor’s head I sat,_

_And witnessed magic beyond compare._

_But the greatest wand-work I ever saw,_

_Came with the founding of these halls,_

_These four great minds of years ago,_

_Used the magic I now recall:_

_Wise Ravenclaw with wand of willow,_

_For charms she was renowned,_

_She hid and disguised this patch of land,_

_To ensure we would never be found._

_Then brave Gryffindor with wand of holly,_

_Transfigured out of the mountain,_

_The great stone castle in which we sit,_

_Where generations could all be taught in._

_Now sweet Hufflepuff with wand of spruce,_

_Added features for out leisure,_

_She conjured furniture and stocked the kitchens,_

_For every student’s pleasure._

_Meanwhile ambitious Slytherin,_

_Kept his work closely guarded,_

_He enchanted rooms and carved out chambers,_

_Just before our founders parted._

_So, remember now in these challenging times,_

_That one day long ago,_

_Our founders four all worked together,_

_To ensure they reached they’re goal._

_And although now each of you may possess,_

_Skills that set you all apart,_

_You must stay united while you’re divided,_

_To give Hogwarts back its heart.’_

The Great Hall exploded in cheers and applause from every side, the noise bouncing off the walls. The sudden eruption of noise caused almost every new first year to jump out their skin as they looked around curiously at all the older students impressed faces. 

‘That was quite a weird ending,’ Sirius muttered into James’s ear, who too, had a more concerned look on his face after the song. 

‘All that Ministry chat, and now this, that Hat knows more than anyone,’ James replied, his eyes narrowing up at the Headmaster. 

‘Dumbledore has to know what’s actually going on, the Hat must know all the Ministry’s worries,’ Remus chimed in, whispering. 

‘“Challenging times”, what’s it trying to say?’ Peter asked, the four boys looking at each other confused. 

‘Shh!’ Alice shushed them, looking up at the Sorting where a small blond boy had just been sorted into Ravenclaw, the table clad in blue and bronze erupting with excitement. 

‘Pickenthaw, Amber!’ McGonagall shouted out, a brown-haired girl, running up to the stool, McGonagall placing the Hat on her head. 

The Hat sat for around thirty seconds before yelling out ‘HUFFLEPUFF!’ 

‘Cromwell, Ignatius.’ 

‘SLYTHERIN!’ 

‘Ridley, Lewis.’ 

‘RAVENCLAW! 

‘Krithelmew, Amalia.’ 

‘GRYFFINDOR!’ 

‘Bard, Oscar.’ 

‘GRYFFINDOR!’ 

The houses all cheered for their new additions, and once they had all been sorted, Dumbledore stood up and gave his usual speech. He welcomed all students, new and old and warned those who needed to be reminded (his blue eyed particularly twinkled in the direction of the Marauders over his half-moon spectacles) to stay our of the Forbidden Forest and to stick to the school rules. 

‘Tuck in,’ Dumbledore enticed once he’d finished and a large assortment of delicious dishes appeared on plates in front of all the students, from whole chickens and pies to chips and various varieties of beans. The students loaded up their plates and proceeded to eat until stuffed. Stuffed also included numerous different desserts, including James’ favourite which was apple pie. 

‘So, are we still going ahead with that plan tonight? You’ve got the cloak?’ Peter asked mischievously, producing grins on the rest of the Marauders faces. 

‘Absolutely, its way too funny to not try right away,’ James replied as he swallowed the last of his ice cream and pushed the golden bowl away patting his stomach. 

‘Please tell me you’re not about to wreak havoc on the first night already,’ Marlene sighed, overhearing the conversation. 

‘Didn’t your mother ever tell you that its rude to eavesdrop, McKinnon,’ Sirius asked with a smirk. Marlene narrowed her eyes down on him, but she was smirking. 

‘Yes, but she always said “on your parents” each time I did, so I guess I never fully caught the memo. Don’t make McGonagall rip her hair out the first day,’ she said. The plates cleared and all of a sudden, she was being tapped on the shoulder by some dark haired, sixth year Ravenclaw who she looked up at and started smiled. She took his offered hand and they left the Great Hall together, the girls laughing as she left. 

‘When did that happen?’ Sirius muttered as he watched them leaved, leaning forward on the table. 

‘God knows. Marls has always had them running rings around her,’ Dorcas enlightened as she heard Sirius’s grumble. She and the other girls also got up and started heading for Gryffindor Tower, the train journey and immense amounts of food making them sleepy. Remus flashed a smirk to James who grinned back. 

‘We should go too, the sooner we can get the prank done, the better, I’m bloody tired,’ Remus announced mid-yawn. The boys mumbled in agreement and they too set off for Gryffindor Tower. 

The magnificent stone castle that made up Hogwarts contained the astounding number of 142 staircases. Navigating them could be a challenge as they were prone to moving and had trick steps where there were none at all, but it looked like there was. Peter had the unfortunate circumstance where in the middle of a yawn, he wasn’t looking and got his foot stuck in the staircase. After a considerable amount of laughter, the boys pulled him out, ensuring he was okay and continued their journey to the dormitories. 

Once they reached the Fat Lady and she swung open for them once hearing the password (“ _Veritaserum,_ ” Remus being a Prefect already knew the password) and they headed up to their four bed dormitory, where their trunks were waiting for them, ready to be unpacked. However, the boys had bigger thing on their minds than unpacking at that moment in time. James quickly pulled out his invisibility cloak that his father had, rather irresponsibly, passed down to him, assisting them all in being the prankers they were. It still managed to cover all four of them, but it was beginning to be a struggle as all of them had grown in height and bulked up over the summer, so keeping all their feet covered was now a tricky task. 

They sneaked out of the warm Common Room where there were only a few souls scattered about and made their way down the stairs, wands at the ready in case they needed a distraction. The biggest worry was being caught by Mrs Norris, Filch’s cat who they were pretty sure could see through the invisibility cloak and went running to Filch at any chance she got. Argus Filch was the Hogwarts particularly nasty caretaker who seemed to have it out for every student on the premises, but especially hated the Marauders due to the many pranks they had pulled over the years. The Marauders were notorious for their pranks. 

Finally, they reached the outside of the castle and threw off the cloak which confined them impossible close and made a run for the Greenhouses, particularly Greenhouse Three, where Professor Sprout kept most of the more dangerous and elicit plants. Professor Sprout taught Herbology, a rather dumpy woman with grey wispy hair and a heart of gold. But that didn’t stop the boys from wanting a good prank. 

Remus pulled out a long, golden key attached to a silver chain and shoved it into the lock. 

‘Where did you get that?’ Peter asked in surprise as he watched Remus’s nimble finger work at the lock 

‘I have my ways’ Remus smirked at them all, opening the glass door with ease and they walked in. 

‘ _Lumos,_ ’ all of them whispered, producing bright lights from the tips of their wands. 

‘Remember, be careful with this plant. It’s fucking brutal,’ James laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)  
> Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read this, it truly means the world to me. Again, any criticism, please let me know as I'm always desperate to improve. Also, just a little side note, I am not responsible for the Sorting Hat song, but it went so well with the plot that i had to use it. It won 2nd place on the website, if you'd like to check it out: http://chamberofchathelp.weebly.com/sorting-hat-song-contest.html  
> Love, Julia xx


	4. Venomous Tentaculas

It was unusual if Dorcas Meadowes wasn’t one of the first students down in the Great Hall in the morning. Teachers would not be impartial to worry if they came do butter some toast and wake themselves up with a coffee if they couldn’t see her dark hair peeping out along the Gryffindor table, often the pages of a large book open in front of her. It was one of the reasons Remus thoroughly enjoyed the fact that it was Dorcas who was a morning person. They were never disturbed and kept peaceful. 

Remus stood in the doorway of the Great Hall, his eyes scanning the Gryffindor table until he caught sight of her. He smiled, fixing his book bag on his shoulder and made his way over, his mind pondering over what he should have for breakfast. 

‘Hey Ace,’ he said brightly, sitting down opposite her while simultaneously pouring himself some coffee and taking the liberty to refill Dorcas’s mug also. Over their many mornings together, Remus had come to learn that Dorcas was a coffee fanatic, to the point where she rivalled his love for chocolate. 

‘Hi Remus! Oh, thank you so much, I don’t think I’d even realised I finished that mug,’ Dorcas grinned at him. She was a pretty girl with fabulously straight teeth and rather bushy eyebrows that only she could pull off. 

‘S’no problem. What you reading?’ he asked, pouring some milk on his cereal, noticing that it was some sort of magazine and not her usual choice of Muggle literature. 

‘Don’t even get me started, it’s ridiculous. I bought _Witch Weekly_ at the start of summer because they had some articles and interviews with _Spellbound_ , but little did I realise how addictive celebrity gossip is and now I’m kind of hooked,’ Dorcas told him, rolling her eyes at herself and closing of the magazine, showing a large winking picture of some attractive wizard on the front cover. 

‘ _Spellbound,_ they’re a band, right?’ Remus searched his memory, trying to remember correctly. Dorcas nodded in response. 

‘Yep, and a great one too, all girls. I just didn’t think liking them would suck me into this madness,’ Dorcas sighed, making Remus laugh. 

‘Hey, we all have our guilty pleasures. I really like sausage dogs, they’re adorable, I have a stuffed toy one at home,’ Remus grinned as he made Dorcas chuckle. 

‘I don’t blame you, they are one of the cutest things to walk the earth,’ Dorcas agreed, chewing down some bacon. ‘What in Merlin’s name is she doing up so early?’ 

Remus turned around at Dorcas’ question to see Marlene, blonde hair swishing as though there was wind coming from some unknown source, smiling at them. 

‘‘Sup lads,’ she causally, more as a greeting than a question as she dropped down into the seat next to Remus and poured herself some tea before looking up to see her two friends staring at her, astounded. ‘What?’ 

‘Are you okay?’ Dorcas finally asked, still looking very confused. Marlene’s eyes flitted between Remus and Dorcas’s identical looks. 

‘Yes, why?’ she asked, assisted with a look that to a sudden passer-by, would seem as though she was talking to people who had grown a few extra heads. 

‘You’re never up this early,’ Remus stated. ‘I still vividly remember the time when Lily was dragging you down the stairs to the Common Room in your pyjamas by your legs while you groaned because your head was hitting every step on the way down.’ 

Dorcas spluttered in amusement at the memory. ‘That was one of the best mornings of my life,’ she recalled. Marlene sent her a pointed glare at the memory. 

‘I’m pretty sure I still have a scar on my head from that incident,’ she grumbled, patting the back of her head. ‘Anyway, I’m up early because I need to get to the library this morning.’ If it was even possible, Remus and Dorcas’s expressions grew even more incredulous. 

‘Who are you and what have you done with McKinnon?’ Remus queried, now looking at Marlene as though she was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen. 

‘Ha, ha, you know, there are _some_ days when I can be a normal, functioning member of society,’ Marlene grimaced as she bit into her toast. ‘Although it is still slightly too early for all these questions you’re asking me.’ 

‘When have you ever wanted to be normal?’ Dorcas asked, her tone doing a terrible job of masking how funny she was finding Marlene’s behaviour. She received a long, manicured middle finger from her best friend as a response. They continued chatting and laughing for a while, the three of them enjoying themselves. 

‘You know, you two are really going to regret tutoring me for OWLs this year,’ Marlene threatened them with a smug smirk. Dorcas raised her eyebrows, looking at her in dismay.

‘Marls, you’re the sharpest knife in the drawer, you wouldn’t need tutoring even if your tried to be dumb. It’s actually very annoying,’ Dorcas dissolved her empty threat. 

‘Smart, pretty and witty. You really are the full package McKinnon,’ the teasing voice of Sirius Black arose as he sat opposite her, throwing her a wink. She tilted her head to the side and smirked at him as James and Peter also joined the group. 

‘And that's my cue to go,’ she said, still looking at Sirius before directing her attention to the group. ‘I’ll see you all in Potions,’ and with that, she got up, tossed her bag over her arm and strutted out. 

‘What was she doing up so early?’ James questioned, setting up his own breakfast. 

‘You think that was early, she was here just a few minutes after me, Cas and I were in shock,’ Remus laughed into his coffee. ‘No clue what she’s up to.’ 

‘She’s probably going to meet that Ravenclaw guy she’s been talking to, the girls and I found out that they got quite friendly before the summer started,’ Dorcas explained, and Remus looked at her in disbelief. 

‘You knew this whole time?’ he asked in shock, making Dorcas giggle. 

‘Sorry, it was just so funny to see you look so confused.’ 

‘Before the summer started?’ Sirius suddenly asked, Dorcas furrowing her brows at the sudden outburst. 

‘Yeah, she said they ended up going to see a Quidditch match and that I think, but she said it’s quite casual.’ 

James snapped his fingers all of a sudden. ‘ _That’s_ where I know him from! He’s one of the substitute Chasers for the Ravenclaw team for when one of them can’t play.’ 

‘Well, we’ve got one mystery solved then,’ Peter cheered mockingly, bringing a laugh out of Dorcas. 

The Great Hall started gradually becoming more and more full, with Alice and Lily joining them, as well as one of Sirius’s most recent conquests, some blonde-bimbo, Hufflepuff fourth year that, quite frankly, none of them could remember the name of. 

‘Please, I’d like to spend just one morning without feeling the need to throw up,’ Remus muttered at Sirius’ distasteful actions, rendering Sirius to sniggers. 

‘Post is here!’ Peter announced and they looked up to watch the range of owls fly down from the ceiling, dropping off packages, letters, newspapers and other things. In front on James dropped the _Daily Prophet_ , with a blinding headline on the front page. 

‘Shit,’ James muttered and grabbed to read it. 

‘What is it?’ Peter asked leaning in. 

‘There’s been more attacks, but it was on a Muggle-born this time,’ James replied, biting his lip with worry and apprehension as the other boys crowded around him to read the article. 

‘Merlin’s beard, the whole fucking family,’ Remus gasped as his eyes darted across the page. ‘No statements, no witnesses, nothing. Just a dead family killed by an Unforgivable.’ 

‘It’s got to be a pureblood, right? Doing this,’ Peter questioned, his top lip quivering slightly as the read the report details of the crime scene. 

‘Of course it’s a pureblood, bloody prejudiced pricks,’ Sirius spat, aggressively biting into his toast. James looked over at him cautiously to see a dark look on his face, the type of look he only got when he was referencing his family. 

‘You really think it’s that lot of purebloods behind it?’ James asked him. 

‘No one else would have the bloody motive to,’ Sirius replied bitterly. 

Once the bell sounded for the start of the day, the lot of them headed for their first class. Double Potions with Professor Slughorn and the Slytherins, much to their ultimate delight. They arrived in the dungeons to find Marlene already situated in her normal seat which was next to Alice. Alice saw her and smirked, ready to poke out all the gossip she could get about her friends’ new lad. They all took their seats, Lily sitting, once again, next to Severus Snape, a greasy-haired, Slytherin boy with a hooked nose that the boys despised, especially James. He wrinkled his nose at the sight. 

‘We need to figure out a class way to prank the cunt this year,’ Sirius spoke crudely with a smirk on his face as he sat down next to James in his usual spot at the back of the class. 

‘I have an idea, but it’s going to take a while. It’s sick though,’ James grinned, the cogs in his brain whirring at the idea he had. 

‘Dangerous?’ Sirius asked, bumping shoulders. 

‘Let’s just say we’re going to need your skill at Transfiguration, mate.’ 

Their conversation was cut short as Professor Horace Slughorn, the Potions Master finally entered the classroom, his usual happy beam on his face as he looked around the classroom. The class quietly sat down and looked at him expectantly, cauldrons at the ready with parchment, quills and copies of _Magical Drafts and Potions_ by Arsenius Jigger. 

‘Good morning, all. I trust you all had a wonderful summer, productive yet relaxing. I’m sure you’re all up for the challenge ahead this year,’ Slughorn addressed them cheerfully. 

‘Here comes the lecture,’ Sirius groaned in James’s ear. 

‘I am sure there is no need to remind you that this June, an important examination, during which you will have to prove how much you have learned about the composition and use of magical potions. I am sure you are well aware that the Potions exam is one of the hardest you will have to sit and to pass it, it will require a constant work ethic throughout the year, not mention consolidating all your work of the previous years.’ 

‘Fucking stab me,’ James muttered quietly. 

‘You think this is bad just wait for Minnie’s lecture,’ Remus whispered to them, leaning back in his chair. “Minnie” was what the Marauders liked to called Professor McGonagall and it drove her mad. 

‘Now that _that_ little discussion is out of the way, sorry to bore you, today we are going to begin to learn about the Draught of Peace, now can anyone tell me what action this draught pursues?’ Slughorn asked the class, looking up at them expectantly. He flicked his wand and a piece of chalk flew up to the whiteboard, poised to write on Slughorn’s command. 

Lily raised her wand. ‘Yes, Miss Evans, enlighten us.’ 

‘It’s a potion to calm anxiety and soothe agitation,’ Lily said, reciting perfectly from the textbook while Slughorn grinned at her. She was easily one of his favourite students. ‘Ironically, it’s rather difficult to brew.’ 

‘Excellent, ten points to Gryffindor, my dear. Now, can anyone tell me what the danger of brewing this draught is? Ah, yes, Mr Snape, do tell.’ 

‘If one is too heavy handed with the ingredients, especially the powdered moonstone, it can put the drinker into a very heavy or irreversible sleep,’ Snape drone monotonously, his attitude completely opposite to the of Slughorn’s who could have jumped up and down from delight. 

‘Yes, perfect, ten points to Slytherin too! Now, we will start brewing the draught in out next lesson, in this one, however, I would like us to focus on the delicacy of this potion, as, like Miss Evans told us, it is rather difficult to brew.’ 

‘Show off,’ Alice mumbled to Marlene who laughed when Lily overheard and stuck up her middle finger at them. 

Slughorn’s enchanted chalk had started to screech across the blackboard causing many of the class to cringe as they copied the contents into their workbooks, the dingy light of the dungeons making it particularly difficult to read. At the back of the class, James played with a Golden Snitch, the one Gryffindor had won his very first Quidditch House Cup with and the then Seeker let him keep as a memento. This action was one of the many that Lily Evans despised about the boy as she controlled herself from yelling at him to put it away, the incessant whirring driving her mad. But she didn’t as it would give the boy too much satisfaction, so she continued working next to Severus. 

‘So, what were you doing in the library this morning?’ Alice asked Marlene with a knowing smirk. Marlene raised an eyebrow in response. 

‘Funny how this has caused so much interest, the rest of you struggling for attention or something?’ she teased, dipping her quill into an inkpot on the desk, the low light of the dungeon making it glitter. 

‘I just find it interesting how you got in late last night, left early this morning, you’re running on hardly any sleep,’ Alice grinned. 

‘I got six hours.’ 

‘What’s the Ravenclaw’s name, Marls?’ Alice begged, Marlene shushing her while chuckling. 

‘Merlin, alright, gosh, his name’s William,’ Marlene told the relentless brunette who sat back in pleasure of coaxing the name out. 

‘What’s he like?’ 

‘He’s nice, now piss off.’ 

Marlene had always been secretive about her boys. Not that she didn’t let people know she was seeing someone, but she’d never talk in detail about them to anyone. 

Suddenly, the door to the dungeon classroom burst open, causing cold air to blast through the room, sending everyone into a shivering frenzy. Everyone tended to keep all doors shut in the dungeons as they were an exceptionally chilly part of the castle. McGonagall, however, appeared to have not quite gathered the memo about that unwritten rule. She stood just inside the classroom, her face stormy, glaring across the classroom. 

‘Hello Professor! Is there anything I can help you with?’ Slughorn asked cheerily, completely misreading the new atmosphere of the room. 

‘It’s not so much what you can help me with, but rather who – ah, there they are,’ McGonagall informed icily as her eyes reached the back of the room, her eyes dropping to her usual culprits. ‘I think you know who I need to see, Professor.’ 

McGonagall motioned out the door calmly with her hand, and James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew all followed suit, heading out of the classroom. 

‘Idiots,’ Lily scoffed quietly. 

McGonagall slammed the heavy, wooden door shut behind them, leaving the boys outside the classroom with a fuming Minerva McGonagall who looked manic behind the eyes. A ticking dungbomb. She glowered at them all for a few minutes, foot tapping on the ground. Despite all the boys now being taller than the Professor due to their summer growth spurt, it did not make her any less intimidating. 

‘First day, _first day_ back and you four can’t let me get through even one measly day in peace,’ she exasperated at them. Sirius fought extremely hard to keep the corners of his mouth from curling into a smirk, looking down at his shoes. Remus and Peter both feigned guilty looks on their faces. James plastered a charming grin as he looked down at her. 

Remus opened his mouth to speak but was cut off. ‘James Potter, you better wipe that grin off you face before I do something I regret, and the rest of you, quit with the acting,’ McGonagall threatened. 

‘Aw, Minnie, you love us!’ Sirius said playfully, his puppy-dog eyes trying to work their magic. McGonagall glared daggers at him. 

‘You are very brave, Mr Black, to be trying such tricks right now,’ McGonagall warned. ‘Do _not_ call me that.’ 

‘How do you even know it was us?’ James asked cheekily. 

‘Because who else in this Merlin be damned school would have run out at such ungodly hours in the morning and terrorised Venomous Tentaculas so much that they _died!_ ’ McGonagall exclaimed, deciding to ignore the boy’s chuckles as she continued with her rant. ‘Professor Sprout is in distress because her plan of what she wanted to teach her sixth year class is ruined and now she can’t give Professor Slughorn the ingredients he needs to teach his seventh years!’ McGonagall was using all her might to prevent herself from giving into the impulse of whacking the boys over the head with a broomstick to wipe off their smug looks. 

‘Minnie, they attacked us! Those plants are _vicious!_ ’ Remus tried to, in any possible way, to defend them. McGonagall stared at him, the tapping of her foot speeding up. 

‘They are called _Venomous_ Tentaculas, Mr Lupin, I hardly believe you thought you’d be able to go skipping with it,’ McGonagall declared sarcastically. ‘What I want to know is, first of all, what in Merlin’s name you were doing up so early –’ 

‘Do not use the Merlin’s name in vain –’ 

‘Sirius Black, I swear on all things holy, you are skating on very thin ice!’ McGonagall thundered, making his voice shut up, but the throaty giggles proceeded. ‘And second of all, what could you have _possibly_ done to terrify such an aggressive plant to death!’ She raised both eyebrows at the end of her speech, a rare facial move only performed when she was in complete despair. 

‘To be frank, Minnie, should the school even _have_ Venomous Tentaculas? Surely it’s a safety hazard. If the Ministry ever caught wind of this, students with dangerous plants, unsupervised …’ James trailed off, tutting. McGonagall’s gaze narrowed. 

‘They would ask why on earth the Greenhouse Three key is hanging out of Mr Black’s robe pocket in the first place!’ she announced, yanking the chain out of Sirius’s robes by its chain. The boys turned their head to glare at Sirius as McGonagall dangled the key in front of them. 

‘We-’ 

‘Don’t even bother, Mr Pettigrew! Mr Filch will see you at seven o’clock on Thursday night in the trophy room. No magic. Enjoy,’ McGonagall said, somewhat smugly as she pocketed the key. ‘Now, back to class. And not a second late for detention or each one lands you another!’ 

The boys groaned and returned to the classroom while McGonagall walked briskly back to her office, the ghost of a smirk on her face. 

The rest of the class went rather quickly for the Marauders, their first detention looming over them, but they did always enjoy the show of McGonagall losing it at them, steam erupting from every inch of her head. They knew she was fond of them, otherwise their detention would have been much worse. Over the years she had somewhat grown a soft spot for of them. Perhaps it was because they were rather ingenious and clever, in their own way. 

The bell sounded for the end of class and everyone filed out. James, however hung back, waving the boys off with a hand, telling them he’d catch up with them. As soon as he was the only one left, he walked up to Slughorn’s desk, hitching his bag up further on his shoulder. He had to be subtle. 

‘Mr Potter, to what do I owe the pleasure?’ Slughorn asked, looking up from his paperwork. 

‘Hey, sir, I was wondering if you could just advise me on some Defence summer homework, I wanted to check I got the description right,’ James answered casually. 

‘Why, of course, my dear boy, ask away!’ Slughorn enticed him happily. 

‘Well, I wanted to ask if you could describe the Animagi potion to me, sir?’ James asked as he pulled out a small, black notebook. 

‘Oh, that is a terribly tricky one, isn’t it,’ Slughorn chuckled. ‘Well, of course, before you even start, the individual had to have soaked a mandrake leaf in their mouth for a month without disruption, horribly tricky task. Then, they’d have to spit the mandrake leaf into a crystal phial and place it directly under the light of the moon, and to the moonstruck phial, the drinker needs to add one of their own hairs, a teaspoon of dew, of course the dew must not have seen sunlight or been trodden on in seven days. And of course, finally, one Death’s-head Hawk Moth chrysalis must be added and then the potion is stored in a dark, undisturbed place.’ 

‘And that’s until the next lightning storm, right?’ 

‘That’s right, my dear boy. When the lighting hits it, the potion should turn blood red. And of course, during the waiting period for the storm, the drinker must every day, without fail, chant the incantation _Amato Animo Animato Animagus_. Wand tip over the heart as well,’ Slughorn added to his recipe. 

‘And then chant that incantation again before drinking the potion?’ James questioned precisely, but Slughorn grinned at his attention to detail. 

‘Exactly! Oh, it is a terribly difficult potion to brew my dear boy, so complicated. Is that all?’ 

‘Yes, that’s all sir, thank you,’ James smiled, shutting over his notebook and shoving it in his bag. 

‘Anytime, Mr Potter, anytime.’ 

James left the classroom feeling rather giddy. Other than getting Remus to agree with the plan and executing the potion carefully, the boys were all good to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read this, it truly means the world and thank you so much to all of you who have already left Kudos. I find it insane that people are already enjoying the story enough to leave them. i hope you enjoyed this chapter, get ready for some Jily in the next one ;)  
> Love, Julia xx


	5. The Wizard's Notes

Despite the spookiness and slight sense of uneasiness that accompanied trooping around the Hogwarts castle at night, Lily had grown rather used to it. It wasn’t her first escapade out into the darkness. She and the girls had had a few adventures before and, miraculously, never been caught. In fact, Lily now found it rather calming as she made her way around the school on her first nightly Prefect duty, showing no remorse to students who were up and out of their Common Rooms after curfew. The worst part of the job, she had discovered already, was finding students in broom closets together. She had busted three couples already, assuming that the built up tension over the summer had just been too much for them to control. It was most unpleasant. 

From what she was aware of, Remus and Alice were also on Prefect rounds that night, but they were together while she was unfortunately alone, her sixth year Hufflepuff partner, Maya Rockeknut unfortunately splashing herself with a badly made Cure for Boils potion. Instead of curing boils, it caused large blisters to swell up on her hands and was, understandably, spending the night in the Hospital Wing. She had apologised to Lily profusely, but Lily, being on very good terms with Maya, had told her to not even dare worry about it and that she was fine for a night on her own. Even though Lily’s breath would hitch every time a painting stirred or jump slightly whenever a ghost would glide past, she still found the walk rather peaceful. She did wish, however, that her wand light would allow her to see where she was going two feet further than it did, the darkness enveloping her. 

She was somewhat jealous that her friends were currently able to be tucked up in bed while she had to trudge around the stone halls. The first week back was always rather difficult and tiring, with information being thrown at the students left right and centre, even more so this year as it was their fifth year and teachers were being extra harsh on them due to the looming exams. Lily couldn’t wait for Friday to finally arrive. She had spent most of her evenings in the Library with Dorcas, Alice. Sometime Remus would join them in attempts to catch up and revise topics that had slipped their minds over the summer and they required to refresh them in time for new topics for which they needed the information. Marlene had really been nowhere to be found that week, not that it worried the girls too much as she had always been a bit of a lose cannon and was so brilliantly intellectual that she didn’t require much revision, something the girls were all a bit envious but in awe of. Despite her academical brilliance, Marlene had been the only one of the four friends to not be chosen as Prefect. The teachers had caught her in too many rebellious situations, much of them involving James Potter, which Lily liked to scold her on, but didn’t hold against her. The two were practically brother and sister and she wasn’t about to let her own problems with the boy dictate that friendship. 

She carefully walked up the steps that lead to the fourth floor, jumping across a few trick steps that lay hidden along the walk. She would never forget her first day at Hogwarts where Dorcas fell right into one of the holes and was trapped there for a good twenty minutes before Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout caught wind of the news and managed to pull her out. That was how they met Alice, who was doing a very bad job at trying not to laugh throughout the whole situation while Lily, a Muggle-born who had never in her life witnessed such a thing, stood frozen and gobsmacked at the entire situation. Alice, somehow through her tears, had to be credited in helping to keep Dorcas calm as Lily, admittedly, had been absolutely no help throughout the entire fiasco. Dorcas laughed about still not quite living down the fact that she had halted almost the entire of Gryffindor house from getting to their dormitories, especially the then Gryffindor Head Boy who had been stood right behind them and who Dorcas had a rather big schoolgirl crush on. Love at first sight, she’d called it. 

Lily smiled to herself at the memory, checking her watch to see that it had hit midnight. She changed her direction to head for Gryffindor Tower as past midnight, the teachers took over the night patrol, allowing the students to get sleep for learning. She suddenly heard faint rattling sounds as she passed an unidentified door along the corridor. She heaved a sighing, having, unfortunately, grown very accustomed to that sound over her first duty night. 

_Not again,_ she griped to herself as she listened closely to confirm that the noise was definitely coming from that unused classroom. She slowly opened the door to ensure it didn’t creak and entered the room to find a broom closet, the rattling noise now louder, along with a few moans thrown in. Rolling her eyes, she marched up to the broom closet and swung open its door. Aggressively. 

‘Merlin’s pants, POTTER!’ Lily exclaimed, flinging her hands over her eyes at the sight of James and a blonde who she recognised as a third year Hufflepuff. 

‘Fuckin' hell, Evans, calm down,’ James said, doing nothing to conceal the amusement in his voice. Lily could _feel_ the irritating smirk that she knew would be daubed all over his face. She peaked through her fingers. 

James was buttoning up his shirt, his tie draped around his collar while the blonde was trying to flatten her hair down and organise her creased robes. Lily glared at the two of them. 

‘You get back to your Common Room. _Now_ ,’ Lily barked at the girl who scowled at her before sending a flirty smile and a bat of the eyelash to James, who smirked back. She left with her robes still a mess, Lily’s anger for James blinding her to the fact that she forgot to issue the girl a detention. Lily turned back to glower at James. 

‘ _Really,_ Potter? A _third_ year?’ Lily exasperated, her frustration growing as James responded with a cocky smirk. 

‘She was a third year? I didn’t even know, but lucky for me, I’ve got you, Evans, to get me up to date on all the birds,’ James teased her as he stepped out of the closet, positive he could see the her red-hair literally catching fire from her fury. 

‘How could you have not known?’ 

‘Hey, I couldn’t help if she dragged me in here after two sentences,’ James laughed. 

‘You’re in fifth year now, Potter! You should be helping Prefects put an end to this kind of stuff, especially since you’d be helping Remus as well,’ Lily scolded. James rolled his eyes at her as they headed out into the corridor. 

‘Remus doesn’t give a shit what I do. Merlin, Evans, you’ve got to learn to loosen up. I have time right now to teach you if you’d like,’ James cocked an eyebrow, grinning. Lily slapped him upside the head furiously before storming away from him. 

‘You don’t have to be so aggressive, love,’ James said as he caught up to her, so they were walking side by side. Lily groaned at the proximity. 

‘You are disgusting, Potter. The only way you’ll learn is if someone is able to whack a few things in there, along with some brain cells every once in a while,’ Lily said, feeling herself descend into madness. 

‘Yet, no matter how much I annoy you, you can’t resist talking to me,’ James teased. Lily took a deep, controlled breath to stop herself from giving into the urge of shoving him down the stairs. Instead, she picked up her pace even more. He did too. 

‘I only talk to you because your stupidity is so colossal that it’s an offence not to correct you!’ Lily exclaimed. 

‘You know what else is colossal?’ James insinuated arrogantly. ‘My di –’ 

‘POTTER!’ 

‘Woah, what is going on here?’ Alice asked with a leer, glancing up at Remus as they bumped into the arguing pair. 

‘Oh, nothing, Evans was just professing her undying love for me,’ James told them happily. Lily whacked him again. 

‘I was not! He was being completely and entirely idiotic again!,’ Lily grimaced and Remus and Alice’s cackling. 

‘Alright, you two lovebirds. Let’s get back to the Common Room, I’m knackered,’ Remus said, rubbing a hand down his weary yet entertained face. 

‘We are _not_ lovebirds!’ Lily declared and stormed up the remaining stairs to the Fat Lady.

‘ _Veritaserum!_ ’ she yelled and the ungodly singer, who swung open unwillingly, muttering about the disrespectful attitude of young people as the rest of them passed her. 

‘Sorry,’ Remus apologised as they entered the warm room, which still had the remains of the fire crackling. 

‘You reckon Sirius is upstairs?’ James asked Remus as they headed up to their dormitory, splitting up from the girls where they could still softly hear Alice teasing Lily for her encounter with James. 

‘I wouldn’t know, I thought he’d be back to doing shit with girls quicker than you,’ Remus smirked at James as they pushed open the dorm door to be greeted with Peter catching up on some homework and Sirius on the floor with a large piece of parchment in front of him and a quill dipped in red ink. He seemed very focused as he carefully drew lines with a steady hand. Sirius had a surprising amount of artistic ability. 

‘Last time I saw him that concentrated was when he was trying to write a letter full of insults to his mother,’ Remus scoffed as he headed over to his bed, peering over at Sirius’s work.

‘Actually, I need to write another one of those, I had a lot of fun last time,’ Sirius grinned as he started to pack away the parchment, folding it in a way that most people would seem odd and complicated. The boys didn’t look twice. 

‘How is it going?’ Peter asked as he sat forward on his bed, watching Sirius put the parchment into his bedside drawer delicately. 

‘It’s coming along, you don’t realise just how big this bloody castle is,’ Sirius sighed. ‘Right, I’m going for a shower.’ 

The boys did not have the luxury of retiring to their dorm when they wished the following night as they arrived at the Trophy Room at the first chime of seven o’clock, flushed faced and breathing heavily for their detention with Filch. 

Filch stared down at them in utter disgust. His long hair tied back in a ponytail, looking as though he had never smiled a day in his life while Mrs Norris weaved through his ankles.

‘It’s not even the second week and you imbeciles are already in trouble,’ Filch said with his downturned mouth, but his tone was gleeful. He enjoyed inflicting pain and trouble on the students. 

‘We just know you missed us, Filchy,’ Sirius grinned brightly at him as he patted Filch’s shoulder, gaining a hiss from Mrs Norris. 

‘Get to work, no magic. I expect this room to be sparkling by the end of the night with not a speck of dust in sight!’ scowled at them, tossing them some wet rags to clean with and left to go sit in his office that was just outside the room. The boys rolled their eyes and began lazily dragging the rags over the first trophies they could lay their hands on. 

‘I can’t believe we got Minnie raging so quickly,’ Peter moaned as he cleaned what already felt like the fiftieth trophy. 

‘We didn’t even really do anything that bad, sure, we might have ruined a few class plans, but who hasn’t?’ James laughed. 

Remus shook his head at his friend in amusement as he reached his hand to the back of a shelf in search of a hidden trophy. 

‘Actually, Remus, this is the perfect opportunity to talk about –’ 

‘No,’ Remus cut Sirius off, fully aware of the topic that was about to be brought up. 

‘But it could help you, we could help y-’ 

‘Do you guys not understand the meaning of the word _no_? It’s far too dangerous to even attempt, a million things could go wrong,’ Remus cut him off again, stubbornly. 

‘We’re just trying to help, mate,’ James jumped in sympathetically as he leaned against one of the trophy cabinets. 

‘And I appreciate that, but seriously, there is not point in all of us getting hurt,’ Remus stood his ground, avoiding eye contact. 

‘But we could get you out of that shack, we could stay with you in a way that you won’t attack us,’ Peter pushed further, trying to convince his friend to agree. 

‘This is one of the most reckless ideas you lot have ever had. If you were to take me out of that shack, not only am I putting you in danger, but loads of other people! I’m a monster!’ Remus announced bluntly. 

Silence fell between them at Remus’s statement, a frustrated one. They boys hated that he called himself that, that he had such a skewed vision of the kind of person he truly was. No matter how many times they tried to make Remus see that he was the opposite, he was adamant and never truly listened to them about it. 

‘Fucking hell, Remus,’ Sirius sighed. ‘We get you want to protect us, but we want to protect you. We know how painful these full moons are for you and fuck it, we don’t want you going through it on your own,’ Sirius said, but more gently than his previous tone. 

‘I’m supposed to –’ 

‘No you’re fucking not! No one is supposed to go through shit like that on their own, no one!’ James butted in, desperate for Remus to see it from their point of view. 

‘Ok, say even if I don’t hurt you. The process is so dangerous, what if one of you gets trapped in a half animal, half human form, there’s no way to explain that to anyone!’ Remus persisted, finally looking at them. 

‘We’ll be really careful, we promise. We won’t even attempt making the potion or trying it until we’re entirely positive we’ve got it perfect,’ Sirius continued trying to convince the sandy-haired boy. Remus let out a breath, somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle. 

‘I don’t, know, I just don’t know.’ 

Remus picked up another cup to polish, the sliver gleaming in the low light. As he reached his cloth inside to wipe the dust, his hand hit something flimsy. Frowning, he pulled out a tattered, folded over set of parchments which had a wax seal that looked as though it had been ripped open long ago. 

‘What’s that you got, Remy?’ Peter asked, placing the trophy he was holding back on its shelf at walked over, James and Sirius looking over at the two of them. 

‘Some sort of set of letters, I guess. But they look more like notes. They’re written in French,’ Remus replied as he started flipping through them, delicately so as not to rip the fragile pages. 

‘Dorcas can speak French,’ James stated as he too walked over to inspect. 

‘Do we really want to share this?’ Peter questioned. 

‘It’s just some pages, Pete, what can be so special about it?’ James asked flippantly. 

‘It’s fine, I can translate it, there’s something written here about the Patronus charm, I understand that,’ Remus cut between them as his eyes poured over the pages. ‘I’m sure I can find a French dictionary in the Library.’ 

‘This looks _years_ old, where did you find it?’ Sirius asked as Remus handed him the pages to look at. 

‘In this trophy, it's like someone hid it,’ Remus replied, confusion etched across his features.

‘Those look like some Ancient Runes as well,’ James pointed with his finger at one of the pages. ‘Could you translate those, Remus?’ 

‘Yeah, I should be able to, they don’t look too advanced. Trust you lot for making me spend a load of time in the Library,’ Remus sniggered. 

‘Who do you reckon could have written them?’ Peter asked curiously. 

‘No idea, but the person is surely dead by now, the ink is so faded,’ Sirius deduced. 

‘But who would go to so much trouble to hide notes like this, it’s a bit bizarre,’ James wondered aloud, reaching his hand into the shelf where Remus had found the notes. ‘Nothing else is there.’ 

‘Honestly, it’s probably not that weird, Dumbledore’s Headmaster. I’ll try and translate them this weekend.’ 

‘Look, there are steps here, like, for a potion or something as well,’ Peter pointed out to a list of steps written in miniscule writing. 

‘Curiouser and curiouser,’ Remus muttered. 

‘Huh?’ Sirius asked in confusion. 

‘Muggle book, you wouldn’t get it,’ Remus said, shoving the pages into his robe pocket. 

‘POTTER! BLACK! LUPIN! PETTIGREW!’ Filch suddenly bellowed across the room, as though his intention was to bring the roof down with him. In a state of panic, the boys all grabbed their cloths and a random trophy, presenting a scene that they were working. Filch appeared from behind a cabinet, his usual evil stare meeting the scene. 

‘I don’t trust you lot as far as I can throw you lot, what were you messing about with?’ he snarled at them, Mrs Norris staring at them with her lamp-like eyes. 

‘With all due respect, Filchy, I don’t think you’re _quite_ allowed to throw students yet,’ Sirius spoke teasingly, watching the fury alight behind Filch’s eyes. 

‘You’re playing with fire, Black,’ Filch responded, his voice trembling from anger. 

Remus flicked a speck of imaginary dust from his jumper and accumulated an air of arrogance and aristocracy that was only bound to irate Filch even more. 

‘I do apologise, Mr Filch. I was just making sure that these two delinquents,’ he motioned and James and Sirius, ‘we're actually doing their job,’ Remus spoke elegantly. Remus would have been halfway through hell if Filch’s hard look could kill. 

‘Don’t play smart with me, Lupin, or I’ll get McGonagall to issue you lot a detention every week for the rest of the year!’ Filch yelled, leaving a smirking Lupin. ‘And remember, _spotless!’_

Filch stalked off, leaving them to continue the long night of polishing different varieties of gold, silver, and bronze. It was only around eleven o’clock at night that they finally had cleaned the entire room and they would be lying if they’d said it had been a completely wandless procedure. Arms aching, brains yawning and greedy for their beds. They made their way through the dark castle to Gryffindor Tower without so much as looking in what direction they were going, their feet having memorised the route. 

They reached their dormitory and began stripping of their clothes, Sirius not even bothering to put his pyjamas on and simply collapsing into bed clad in his underwear. James threw a pillow at Sirius’s head from the potential scarring and therapy he’d have to endure from witnessing such a scene while Sirius cackled at the reaction. 

‘By the way, Remus, I even managed to get Sluggy to check the exact direction of the potions, so to be completely honest we’re ready,’ James informed the werewolf who groaned at the topic being brought up again. 

‘Yeah, I’m sure you’re going to keep a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month, that won’t seem at all suspicious,’ Remus said sarcastically as he climbed under his covers. 

‘We’ll be fine, if anything it would be quite funny,’ Sirius joked, but still wrinkled hi nose as he looked up to see the red curtains of his four poster bed. 

‘Mate, please, I’m tired, and it’s not like you’re going to wait for a storm to come about to do it.’ 

‘Remus, we’re in fucking Scotland, when isn’t there a storm just around the corner,’ Peter laughed, thinking off all the times Hogwarts had been surrounded by a downpour of freezing cold water. 

‘Alright, alright, I get it,’ Remus said, trying to shut them up. 

‘By the way, can I borrow one of your History of Magic notes? I totally didn’t fall asleep today,’ Sirius sent his question to the room, making all three boys groan. 

‘Mate, you have got to start listening, this is so stupid,’ James snorted at his friend. ‘Get out of that little world that’s going on inside your head.’ 

‘I’m sorry, I had _Bohemian Rhapsody_ stuck in my head, and that is far more exciting than Binns, who is about as about as exciting as a dead ant,’ Sirius snickered. 

Professor Binns was one of the oldest Hogwarts teachers, as he was a ghost. Legend was that Binns had died falling asleep in a staffroom chair but, completely unfazed, had simply gotten up, or rather _floated_ up and out his chair on the same day and continued teaching. His classes were some of the most boring Hogwarts had to offer with almost all students dropping it as soon as they’d completed their OWL in it as it was a compulsory subject. 

‘Are ants exciting when their alive?’ Remus pondered. 

‘Don’t say that to Fortescue, she’ll rip your balls of,’ Peter yawned. Unlike her uncle, Alice’s love did not lie in ice cream, but rather in all sorts of creatures, magical or not, there were. It was a well-known fact that she wanted to graduate and become a magizoologist. Her most prized possession was her incredibly tattered copy of _Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander, her greatest inspiration. 

The dormitory had fallen quiet for a few minutes until Sirius decided to pipe up again. 

‘You know what your nickname should be, Remus? “Moony”,’ Sirius giggled. 

‘Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Sir – actually. That’s not that bad,’ Remus said, sounding impressed.

‘It works as well, cos he’s always so moody,’ James hooted, joining in as he enjoyed the wordplay. 

‘Oh, shut up,’ Remus muttered playfully, a small smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, chapter 5, what milestone lol :) thanks for all your support guys, it honestly keeps me so motivated and is so lovely and sweet. I'll get the next one up soon!  
> Love, Julia xx


	6. Floating Cauldrons

‘He could have been more creative than water balloons, though,’ Alice snickered as from afar, she and Dorcas watched Peeves, the Hogwarts resident poltergeist, throw large red water balloons at unsuspecting first years during lunch who were trying to figure out where their next class was in time. 

‘He is becoming rather unoriginal,’ Dorcas agreed with a grin as she moved to fix her dark brown hair, watching the first years get soaked. Between classes, it was rather good entertainment, to sit on a staircase and watch first years get bullied by not-quite-a-ghost.

‘Want to place a bet on how long before McGonagall comes screaming?’ Alice asked, popping a Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean into her mouth. ‘Ew, soap.’ 

‘I am not funding your gambling addiction, Fortescue, besides, I’m saving my money for Hogsmeade,’ Dorcas said, laughing as Alice spit out the badly flavoured sweet. 

‘I can bet you a bean?’ Alice beamed. 

‘I am not putting myself or my assets at that sort of risk,’ Dorcas scoffed, thinking back to the last time she’d eaten them and how she had ended up with a vomit flavoured one. Needless to say, she had been scarred from that experience. 

‘Fair enough, so Hogsmeade then?’ Alice quizzed as she stuffed the box of sweets back in her satchel and leaned against the staircase railing. 

‘Yeah, I need to go to Hog’s Head and sweet talk a guy,’ Dorcas said sarcastically with a wink, to which Alice rolled her eyes. 

‘Yeah, yeah, I hear you,’ Alice replied, turning her gaze fully to look at Dorcas. ‘So, you ever going to ask Lupin out?’ 

‘Fuck off.’ 

‘Wow, doesn’t even deny the crush anymore.’ 

‘Fuck off.’ 

‘You kiss your mother with that mouth?’ 

‘I don’t kiss my mother. Period,’ Dorcas scowled at Alice’s persistence, shifting in her seated position out of uncomfortableness. Alice looked over her sympathetically.

‘You can be the one to ask him out, you know,’ Alice stated bluntly. 

‘I don’t want to, I like the guy to ask the girl out,’ Dorcas sighed. 

‘Right, ‘cause this is the eighteenth century,’ Alice spoke sarcastically, playing with her wand. ‘This _is_ Lupin we’re talking about, the boy has courage in weird areas.’ 

‘I’m not like you or Marls, I’m not ballsy like that,’ Dorcas explained, staring at the floor. ‘Besides, he’s got all that stuff with his mum, and I don’t want to be a burden.’ 

‘Fuck that shit! Just ‘cause he’s got shit going on with his mum, doesn’t mean he can’t have you as well. And if that’s his reasoning then he’s a dickhead for letting you get away,’ Alice argued stubbornly. 

Dorcas was quiet for a bit. There was no point in arguing with Alice once she had set her mind on something, she was very headstrong. Dorcas was the quietest of the group of them and she liked it that way. She didn’t bring any excessive attention to herself and she liked being the one that they came to for help. 

‘He likes you, you know,’ Alice added. 

‘No he doesn’t.’ 

‘Cas, he literally calls you “Ace,” that means number one,’ Alice exasperated, trying to make Dorcas see the Remus Lupin situation from an outsider’s perspective. 

‘That’s nothing, he’s called me that for years,’ Dorcas defended. 

‘You don’t see him giving any of us cutesy nicknames,’ Alice continued. ‘He gets up early every morning just so he can spend time with you alone! Have you met Remus Lupin? The boy’s always tired, he’s not a morning person.’ 

‘Al, drop it, it’s never going to happen, I’ve accepted it,’ Dorcas shut her friend up and popped a piece of gum in her mouth. ‘Merlin, I need a smoke.’ 

‘Me too,’ Alice breathed in defeat. 

The bell soon rang, signalling the end of lunch and the two girls swung their satchels on and headed for Defence Against the Dark Arts. 

It was well known by wizards and witches in the country that Hogwarts could not keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for more than three school terms, which even sometimes then was a struggle. The position was deemed as cursed and finding someone new to take on the position was proving more and more difficult as the years went on. The role seemed to hold a lot of danger and uncertainty. 

The job in this particular year went to Lola Sallow. She was a pretty witch, small and wiry with raven hair and dark eyes, as though they’d seen a lot. Which they would’ve. She was an ex-Mediwitch and no one who didn’t work in the field truly understood the extent to which these magical folk worked. Sallow had been a rather famous one as well due to her work with magical creatures that were often deemed dangerous. Her work history was rather fascinating, Lily had spent hours poring over it before classes had started as around five years ago, she had fell off the grid without a trace. It was only once Dumbledore had offered her the teaching position that she resurfaced to the wizarding world, with questions following her everywhere.

Sallow was sitting at her desk at the front of the class, holding her dark quill as she wrote. She didn’t so much as glance up at the fifth year students as they walked in the class and took their seats. She needed no introduction as they had already had class with her. Rumours had it that she was a Ravenclaw when she was at Hogwarts and she had a particular talent in keeping a class quiet without so much as even trying, like McGonagall. 

The students sat in silence, waiting for Sallow to acknowledge them which she was, presently, failing or choosing not to do. Her grey horned owl perched on the staircase railing that lead up to her office, glaring down at them as though daring them to try at put a limb out of place. Even James and Sirius, who enjoyed taking the mick out a class, didn’t quite trust themselves to perform any of their usual antics. 

‘Like I said before. The owl doesn’t bite,’ Sallow suddenly stated, without looking up and still writing, almost as though she was talking to herself. Lily and Marlene exchanged a nervous glance. Sallow then placed her quill down and looked over the class with her steely gaze, eyes running over each student. 

She then stood up and walked around to the front of her desk and leaning against it, crossing her arms nonchalantly. The owl hooted feebly in the back. 

‘Make friends and split into pairs, I will not be assigning them for you as other professors in this school, I’ve seen, like to do, you’re old enough to organise your own playdates,’ Sallow spoke coolly and witnessed a screech of chairs and desks as the students before her paired up and looked back towards her expectantly. 

She walked down the middle aisle of desks and chairs to reach the back of the classroom. Once she’d reached it, she turned on her heel to face the front again. 

‘A bit excessive, isn’t it?’ James whispered to Sirius, who murmured in agreement.

‘Now, seeing as we have not yet delved into practical work in our previous lessons, so there is something you should know about how I am going to do this. I like to call on you, the students, to come up and do demonstrations, without warning,’ Sallow spoke to them with a glint in her eye. 

‘She’s going to make Robbins fucking shit herself,’ Sirius sniggered. Olympe Robbins was a small, plump Hufflepuff girl who had a fear of virtually everything and anything. She had fainted several times at simply the thought of stepping on a Streeler trail. Granted, a Streeler was a type of snail that changed colour every hour and left behind a trail so poisonous that it killed all vegetation over which it passed. Professor Silvanus Kettleburn had rushed her to Madam Pomfrey from sheer anticipation. Needless to say, Defence Against the Dark Arts wasn’t Robbins’s favourite subject either. 

‘So, today we’re focusing on _Everte Statum_ , now who would like to explain this charm? Potter, how about you?’ Sallow asked suddenly, catching James off-guard. He looked up to see Sallow back up at the front of the class and once again leaning on her desk. She was sporting a small smirk as she looked at his expectantly. ‘Sometime today if you don’t mind,’ she added mockingly. James swallowed slightly. 

‘Er, it’s an incantation of a charm,’ James laughed awkwardly, racking his brain. 

‘As are most spells, Potter,’ Sallow responded, making the class giggle. James narrowed his eyes. He was not fond of a teacher making a fool of him. 

‘It makes the opponent stumble. Depending on the strength of the charm, it causes a sharp pain, as if the opponent suddenly got a stitch,’ James spoke smugly, watching as Sallow’s brows raised in surprise at his quick recovery. 

‘Good,’ she said shortly, offering him a lingering glance. ‘I don’t particularly want you to start practicing on each other yet, but, oh well, you’ll have fun. In your partners, take turns with the incantation and please don’t cause each other too much pain. I’ve not had a student sent to the Hospital Wing yet, and I can’t be bothered starting now.’ 

Alice snorted at the comment. 

James and Sirius positioned themselves near the back of the room, facing each other with grins on their faces from the prospect of being slightly sadistic to each other. 

‘She’s slightly thestral-shit crazy, i’nt she?’ Sirius joked in a hushed whisper. 

‘Kinda cool to have a teacher that’s actually done shit for once though,’ James surprisingly complimented her after her previous attempt to humiliate. They heard from the opposite end of the room, Olympe’s partner trying desperately to console her quivering friend. 

‘ _Everte Statum!’_ a sudden yell of the charm sent Sirius stumbling back into the stone wall of the classroom and he turned his head to see a laughing Remus Lupin. 

‘Oi! You’re not even my partner!’ Sirius yelled at him, grinning while Remus shrugged.

‘You should be prepared for anything, Black,’ Remus teased. 

‘Good advice, Lupin,’ Sallow’s calming voice sounded. ‘Five points to Gryffindor. 

The class continued, able to remain somewhat focused on the task at hand, despite the increasing pain people where receiving from improvements of the spell. By the end of it, several students were left with nursing small injuries to the ribs and other areas of their bodies, not just from the charm but also from being slightly aggressively thrown together by it if the student casting it was not careful with their aim. For the first time, they had seen Sallow express a few chuckles as a result of the class shenanigans and barely blinked an eye when Robbins had been rather comically thrown towards Sallow’s owl, which then screeched angrily in her face an almost caused Olympe to faint. After that occurrence, Sallow thought it was best to maybe wrap up the practical lesson and set them research homework for the next lesson; _Discuss the three distinctive points of appearance of Ghouls and they’re preferred places of residence._

‘Black, stay behind for a moment,’ Sallow called on Sirius as he was exciting the class and then disappeared into her office accompanied by her owl. He told the boys he’d see them up at the Common Room and followed suit up into the office. 

Her office looked like a rather strange arrangement of construction work with a variety wizarding objects placed around the place. Sirius’s eyes in particular were drawn to a brightly coloured sneakoscope which was whirring slowly, looking as though it was about to topple over at any moment, though it picked up its pace as he drew nearer. Sneakoscope’s had never trusted the Marauders in particular. 

He looked up to see the largest collection of different kinds of cauldrons he’d ever seen, the metals ranging from gold and silver to steel and lead, the tall windows allowing the sunlight to bounce off them. There was a slight sloshing sound coming from them, as though there actually were potions in them, but then there were a few that had actually turned upside down from their floating motion and they were empty. Sirius walked forward to sit in front of Sallow’s office desk, which she already resided behind. 

‘Tea?’ she asked, but before Sirius could respond, she had flicked her wand and a silver tea set flew in front of them, pouring tea into silver cups. 

‘Um, sure,’ Sirius breathed, grabbing himself a biscuit from the plate the accompanied the tea set. He took a bite of the biscuit, a custard cream specifically, slightly unsettled as Sallow eyed him. 

‘So, you’re a Black,’ she stated, making Sirius raise an eyebrow as he swallowed. 

‘That’s what it says on the birth certificate,’ he said smartly. She chuckled. 

‘A Black in Gryffindor. Can’t imagine that went down well,’ Sallow said with a slight tilt of the head. Sirius’s brain whirred as he watched Sallow be visibly more relaxed, but her eyes still remained sharp, like a hawk. 

‘It didn’t, they’re still recovering from the aneurysm,’ Sirius replied flatly, eliciting another laugh from her. He felt uncomfortable. He wanted her to get to the point. 

Her eyes scanned his face for a second. ‘Your brother, Regulus. His circle is … interesting to say the least,’ Sallow pried, leaning back in her chair casually. Sirius moved his eyesight down to his shoes, which had suddenly become the most fascinating things in the world. 

‘He can do what he wants, I don’t see how it’s any of your business anyway,’ Sirius replied through gritted teeth, unwilling to discuss his family situation. 

‘He’s a good kid, I can tell,’ Sallow spoke gently. 

‘Yeah, he is,’ Sirius said defensively, looking back up at her. ‘I get what you’re trying to do, and I’m not interested. I’m not about to go prying into Reg’s life, mainly because I can’t be arsed to do so. What he does comes from his own decisions, if he wants to make the wrong ones after he’s seen what I stand for, that’s on him!’ 

‘He’s only fourteen, Siri-’ 

‘Bullshit, I was eleven when I got alienated.’ 

‘He’s just not as strong as you to stand up to your parents.’ 

‘Not my issue. I didn’t have anyone standing up for me, and I fucking tried to stand up for him, and still do, just no one wants to talk about it!’ Sirius swore. ‘I’ve tried to make him see that those Slytherin’s are a nasty piece of work, all fucking pureblood glory hunters, and if he doesn’t want to listen to me and still fuck with them, that’s his call!’ 

Angry, Sirius stood up and headed towards the door, a slight regret filling him of his outburst, but his brother was always a sensitive topic he liked to avoid. With one hand on the door of Sallow’s office, he his head around to her. 

‘What’s with the cauldrons?’ he asked, his voice calm again. 

‘I’m part Irish. Sometimes little leprechauns jump out of them if they’re feeling up to it, throw some gold about,’ she replied, showing no resentment in her voice to his outburst.

Sirius nodded in acknowledgment, but for some reason through there was more to the story. He left the office, heading for Gryffindor Tower with a lump in his throat. He was trying to figure out why Sallow was even interested in his family situation. None of the Hogwarts professors had ever shown interest in his family on that level except Dumbledore, and even he didn’t ask questions directly. 

Her words stayed on Sirius’s mind until the next morning, the evening before which he had stayed unusually quiet, confusing his friends slightly. His thoughts were preoccupied by the early morning rise for Quidditch practice however, where the rain that morning seemed determined to defeat them. 

‘Merlin, we have to go out in that?’ Sirius asked as he, James and Marlene sat in the Great Hall with several aspects of a full English breakfast on their plates as the Scottish wind and rain attacked the castle from all sides. 

‘Don’t even mention it, Black, it’s grim, I’m trying not to think about it,’ Marlene grumbled as she took a swig of pumpkin juice, sat in her robes of red and scarlet. 

The trio were up at six in the morning, the only reason, apart from that one morning, that Marlene would be caught dead in the Great Hall at a time this early. Even Dorcas wasn’t up yet, so that’s how you knew it was too early for anyone to be awake. They were, unwillingly, conforming to the Gryffindor Captain’s new Quidditch training regime. 

‘If this goes on all year, I’m going on strike,’ James moaned rubbing his eyes. Sirius and Marlene chuckled. 

‘If I catch my death, I’m suing,’ Marlene stated. 

‘They don’t even give us anything waterproof!’ James complained, looking out the tall Great Hall windows in fear. 

‘Hey guys!’ Dorcas arrived, her demeanour far too cheerful for the time in the morning. She sat down next to Marlene, poured herself some coffee and then looked up to see the bewildered faces of the three Quidditch players in front of her. ‘What?’ 

‘What on earth is your secret to looking so awake in the morning?’ Marlene asked, propping her head on her chin in mock awe. Dorcas rolled her eyes. 

‘I actually sleep, Marls, instead of sneaking out of the dorm and not returning until four in the morning,’ Dorcas teased her, bumping her shoulder Marlene grimaced at her friend while Sirius’s face beamed at this new-found piece of information. 

‘Where you wandering, McKinney?’ 

‘None of your damn business, Black,’ Marlene sent him a sarcastic smile before shooting Dorcas a glare, who had a satisfied expression plastered on her face. James simply looked bemused. 

Sirius sighed happily. ‘Well, we better get going. See you later, Dork,’ he saluted Dorcas, who scowled at him for using the teasing name he gave her in second year. 

‘Stop calling me that!’ she yelled after them as they left the Great Hall, many students surrounding her sending her death stares for shouting so early in the morning. 

The three of them headed down to the Quidditch pitch, whipping their robes over the heads to protect them from the rain that was battering down on top of them. 

‘Potter! McKinnon! Black! You’re late!’ Rumsfeld screeched at them as he ushered them into the Gryffindor Quidditch Meeting Room, a room which each house had, adorned in the house colours. There was a large blackboard in the room which spelt out _New Year Techniques_ accompanied by various moving diagrams and the rest of the team sat opposite the blackboard on wooden benches that took up most of the room. 

The three of them rushed to grab seats on the benches, greeted by an equally tired looking team, the only one of them looking even remotely awake being Rumsfeld, the Captain.

‘Now that we’re all here,’ a slight scowl was sent by Rumsfeld the way of the fifth year trio, ‘we can start discussing some of the new plans and techniques I have for this year. Now, as you all know, there was no need for us to hold try-outs this year as I am very happy with how we are as a team, despite some of your blatant issues with punctuality.’ 

‘Keep the passive-aggressive comments coming, love, keep us out of first period,’ Marlene yawned cheekily. 

The talk Rumsfeld honoured them with seemed to be more boring and more dragged out, for no clear reason other than to torture, than one of Binns’ History of Magic lessons, which, unfortunately, James, Sirius and Marlene had that day. James ended up laying his head on Marlene’s shoulder, who was leaning back against the wall while Sirius sat with his chin in his hand, eyes closed as Rumsfeld rumbled on. 

Marlene was the only girl on the Gryffindor team, holding the position of Seeker. Sirius was a Beater along with Ciaran Rumsfeld, who was in seventh year. Matt Fleetwood, also a seventh year, played the position of Keeper. James was a Chaser along with Edward Tate and Alice’s older brother, Lewis Fortescue, who were both in sixth year and two peas in a pod.

Once they finally got on the pitch, Rumsfeld released the snitch and threw up the Quaffle, which Lewis caught instantly and then passed it to James who managed to score in less than ten seconds. 

The first practice always went more slowly than the others as they were getting back into their stride. The Bludgers seemed more aggressive than usual and Sirius saved Marlene several times from what would have been horrific whacks in the head as she focused on trying to catch the snitch, which she did over twenty times during the practice. 

‘You got to be more careful. McKinnon, don’t want to lose our Seeker,’ Edward smiled at her as they headed to the changing rooms, soaked through to the bone from the treacherous weather, their shivering involuntary. 

‘I’ll survive, don’t worry,’ Marlene grinned up at him before running to join James and Sirius, pushing in the middle of the two of them. ‘Thanks for saving my neck today,’ she said to Sirius.

‘No problem, McKinnon,’ he winked at her, throwing and arm over her shoulders which she playfully shoved off. ‘What were you chatting with Tate about?’ 

‘Oh, he was just telling me to be more careful,’ Marlene replied, making the two boys scoff at her words. ‘Oh, scoff all you want. I’m hitting the showers, I’m fucking freezing,’ Marlene laughed and ran off to the girls’ changing rooms, Jams and Sirius waving her off. 

Sirius looked at James to see he was smirking at him. 

‘What?’ Sirius asked, suspiciously yet defensively, which made James’s smirk to widen.

‘Nothing,’ James chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry this one took a while, just had a little lack of motivation over the past few days, but I'm back :) hope you enjoyed the chapter and again, thank you so much for all the support it truly means the world.  
> Love, Julia xx


	7. Little Blonde Corvette

‘We could just use _Alohamora_ on the Greenhouse, surely, I mean, it’s just the Greenhouse,’ Peter tried to brainstorm. The four of the boys were currently sat in an empty classroom in the castle that had been left rather abandoned as no lessons were held in it. The school, however, was full of rooms like this. 

‘Won’t work, the charms are strong, leave the Mandrakes alone,’ Remus sounded in a bored tone as his eyes danced along the pages of the book her was reading, uninterested in the conversation that the boys were having. The three scowled at his lack of cooperation for their plan. 

‘I can just go steal it from Sprout’s office with the invisibility cloak, it won’t be hard. She’s so trusting she always leaves her office door unlocked, no matter the time,’ James spoke, which made Remus roll his eyes, shut his book and then lean forward, his arms on his knees.

‘Can we stop this ridiculous idea already, I’m not going to let you start gallivanting around me on full moon’s, you paegan’s!’ Remus insisted, but James just waved him off. 

‘Ever crossed your mind that it could also just be us wanting to be Animagi, Merlin, not everything is about you, Lupin!’ James teased Remus with a grin. As much as he despised himself for it, Remus couldn’t help the grin that wormed its way onto his face from James’s words. 

‘You’re all fucking clapped,’ he said with a scoff. Before opening his book back up and sticking his nose in it. 

‘Any luck with those notes we found it detention, Rem?’ Sirius asked as he sat on a desk, his feet propped up by a chair. Remus’s eyes looked at him over the rim of his book. 

‘The Ancient Runes are definitely NEWTs level, maybe even beyond that. Without them, none of the French makes sense, so I’m still working on it,’ Remus informed them with a sigh as he reached to grab the old, fragile parchment from his pocket. 

‘Wait, what about the prank on Snape, did you manage to figure it out?’ Peter asked Sirius as most of the work of this particular prank on the Slytherin had fallen to Sirius due to his particular talent in Transfiguration and magical creatures. 

‘It’s coming along quite nicely actually, should be ready any day now. Just got a few finishing touches on it, really,’ Sirius grinned. He was particularly excited about this prank as they’d never planned one quite so elaborate and, on a level, showed off just how skilled the boys were at magic. 

‘Please just promise me it’s not going to land us in detention for the next year,’ Peter pleaded, earning a slap on the shoulder from James. 

‘Come on, Pete, even if it does, it will be so unbelievably worth it to see Snape in such a state,’ James grinned gleefully, his eyes dreamy with the thoughts of the prank. 

‘You’re only so happy with this ‘cause it gives you a chance to show off to Evans again,’ Peter chuckled, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. 

‘Any time you get to show off to a woman, it’s a good day, Pettigrew,’ James said arrogantly causing the other three boys to shake their heads at him in amusement. 

‘When are you going to learn that Lily is not impressed by your pranks, mate?’ Remus asked with a tone of slight despair at his friend’s hopeless attempts in love. 

‘Bullshit, Lupin, she loves the pranks, she just doesn’t realise it yet,’ James cackled at the notion.

The door to the classroom suddenly swung open, hitting the wall with a slam , causing the boys to jump and their heads to whip round alarm at the abrupt intrusion. Two people stumbled in, their lips attached to each other in a desperate manner, complete disregard for anyone standing inside the classroom. 

‘Alice?’ Sirius questioned in disbelief. The dark haired girl leapt away from the boy by the arrival of Sirius’s voice in her ears, clearly not expecting to have been interrupted during her hook up. She looked at the four boys in front of her and her cheeks lit up with a slight blush, which was odd for Alice as she very rarely got embarrassed. The tall boy she had jumped away from scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. It was Frank Longbottom. 

‘Frank? Good on you,’ James laughed, his face breaking out into a grin as he recognised the boy. Frank responded to his grin with a timid but proud smirk. He was in sixth year and Gryffindor, and now that the boys had come to think of it, it made sense that Alice would have gone for an older guy. She had never really shown interest in guys her age and she was a fiery character, making most boys slightly intimidated by her. Frank was calm and relaxed and was clearly a soothing presence for Alice to have. 

The four Marauders grinned at the couple, getting over the initial shock of witnessing them locking lips in secret. 

‘I will just say, you’re less likely to run into people in a broom closet,’ Sirius teased the two of them and if looks could kill, he would be six feet under from Alice’s murderous glare.

‘Watch yourself, Black, I’m not in a very forgiving mood at the minute,’ Alice said coolly, however, the blush was still prominent on her cheeks. Frank chuckled at her threat.

‘So, how long has this been going on for?’ Peter asked, intrigued at the new relationship that had been presented before them. 

‘Since around March this year,’ Frank answered, his initial awkwardness wearing off now. He was good friends with the four fifth year boys, and they had spent many a night crowded around the fire of the Gryffindor Common Room playing chess or exploding snap and discussing Quidditch or the latest prank the Marauders had pulled. ‘You lot are the first to know though, other than my mate, Josh.’ 

‘Shit so the girls don’t know?’ Sirius quizzed in awe, his smile so wide at this point that his grin almost tickled his ears. Alice could see the Black boy’s shit stirring antics beginning to surface already. 

‘Sirius Black, actually, all of you, if you utter one word to the girls, I will squeeze your testicles so hard that your eyes pop out and feed them to you like grapes!’ Alice exasperated.

‘Which, the eyes or the balls?’ Remus asked, looking at Alice as thought she was crazy.

‘One of each!’ 

‘Okay, okay, we promise we won’t tell, but why don’t you want the girls to know yet?’ Peter questioned, asking the question they all wanted the answer to. 

‘Oh, fucking hell, lads, even I don’t fully understand it,’ Frank laughed running a hand down his face and sending Alice a playful wink as she shot daggers at him for his comment. 

‘I’m just not in the mood to be interrogated by them yet, not that it’s any of your business anyway,’ Alice said defensively, but the arm that Frank had now placed around her shoulder had now visibly relaxed her. 

‘Your secrets safe with us, Al, don’t worry,’ Remus said with a wink, but faltered slightly under Alice’s ferociousness and put his hands up in surrender. 

‘Alright, alright, we’ll leave you two alone to get back to your business,’ James goaded, patting Frank on the back as the boys started to file out of the classroom. ‘Good luck with her, man.’

Th four of them headed back up to Gryffindor Tower and collapsed into the squishy sofas and armchairs by the fire which they had somehow managed to claim as their territory over the years. Still in slight disbelief and amazement at what they’d witnessed, they sat with smug looks on their faces, ones which always left people curious with what they had done.

‘Why do you all look like that?’ Dorcas asked with suspicion as she sat curled up in one of the armchairs. Lily sat with her and Marlene was sat cross-legged at the coffee table, quill in hand, finishing off an essay.

‘Look like what?’ Remus asked innocently, but his eyes were shining with joy and secrets. Dorcas narrowed her eyes on him.

‘What have you lot done?’ Lily questioned, expecting the worst from their answer. James’s eyes lit up from her interaction.

‘Oh, so you’re interested in our little antics, Evans? Makes a change,’ he said mockingly, causing Lily to groan in annoyance.

‘They haven’t done anything. They _know_ something,’ Marlene muttered, not looking up at any of them as she continued writing. The boys smirked.

‘I don’t like how well she knows us, James, she knows the behaviour too well,’ Peter said in jest, Marlene’s eyes twinkling from the comment.

‘Well, what do you know then?’ Dorcas quizzed them, her eyes shifting between each of the four boys. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

‘Wouldn’t you like to know, Dork?’ he asked, smirking. Dorcas simply sent him a glare and leaned back in her armchair, arms crossed. It was clear the girls weren’t going to get anything out of the boys, who were revelling in it. Lily opened her mouth to argue but Marlene interrupted her.

‘Don’t bother, Lils. Trying to get a secret out of this lot is like trying to get past the Whomping Willow,’ Marlene said in a bored tone, finishing up her essay.

‘Ugh, they’re impossible,’ Lily mumbled, frustrated by her curiosity as she took up the same pose as Dorcas.

‘Sirius!’ a high-pitched voice suddenly squealed and within seconds, Sirius was being used as a chair by a small, blonde, airhead Gryffindor.

‘Hey, Eloise, what’s up?’ he asked, smirking, while the rest of them surrounding them rolled their eyes at the actions. Marlene rolled up the parchment her essay was written on.

‘Oh, nothing, just wanted to spend some time with you!’ Eloise giggled, locking her arms around his neck, and planting a kiss on his cheek. James groaned, covering his eyes, earning stifled laughs from the rest of the group.

‘I’m going up to bed, see you in a bit,’ Marlene said as she packed up her work and disappeared up the dormitory stairs. Lily and Dorcas frowned, Dorcas sending a the red-head a questioning look, Lily shrugging in response.

Sirius Black was known for being a player of Hogwarts. Girls tended to swoon and fall for him due to his good looks, charisma, and laid-back attitude. They were pretty certain that at some point, somewhere, there had been a fan club made up for him by the younger years. And Sirius embraced his glorification by girls to the fullest and enjoyed fooling around with them, building up the notches on his bed post. The boys knew that Sirius had definitely lost his virginity, but they had no idea to who and when. From interest, they had asked him several times to expose the topic, however, Sirius seemed strangely determined to keep his first time wrapped up and hidden away.

‘The girl probably threatened to hex his balls off if he utters a word,’ James had joked to Remus and Peter one of the nights when Sirius was probably stuffed in a broom closet somewhere with one of his conquests.

James was also known for being quite the player, but he was far more selective than Sirius about who he chose to hook up with, contrary to popular belief. He never led girls on the way Sirius did as well, choosing to be transparent and open with them about what he was seeking out of the relationship. James had been brought up with a plethora of gentlemanly manners, or at least, chose to abide by them.

On a rare sunny Friday, just before the weekend was about to start, the fifth years were stuck in Transfiguration, attempting to perfect their Vanishing Spells, something which Sirius was finding far too easy, his talent in the field shining. McGonagall, despite being impressed, also hated that he found the subject so easy as it left him with far too much time to plan any number of illicit pranks in her presence.

‘We can do the prank today, after class by the lake,’ Sirius whispered to James as the class was busy practicing the charm, his words leading to a large grin to break out on James’s face.

‘Did I hear correctly there?’ Remus asked quietly as he looked behind him, taking in his friends smiles.

‘Yes, we’re going for it today, all that’s really left to do is for Snape to be by the lake and to perform an Engorgement Charm,’ Sirius explained, his work for the prank mostly finished.

‘Fuck,’ Remus breathed with a laugh, louder than he meant for it to come out.

McGonagall’s head whipped up, eyes narrowed in the boys’ direction. ‘Who said that?’ she asked sharply.

‘James, Professor,’ Remus replied quickly, throwing his friend comedically under the bus. James threw his arms up, giving Remus an incredulous look.

‘Detention, Potter,’ McGonagall announced and then continued observing the class in their work. The lesson continued with James grumbling in annoyance at his undeserved detention and the other three boys snickering. However, nothing could stop James’s excitement for the awaiting prank, so much so, that over the whole lesson, his leg was incessantly moving up and town, his foot tapping the stone floor.

‘Would you cut it out,’ Marlene hissed to him. She sat at the table next to him with Alice. ‘It’s very distracting.’

‘Oh, I know I’m distracting, Marls. My face was sculpted by the Greek gods as a gift to mankind, but there’s really no need to keep reminding me of it when I already know,’ James said arrogantly with a wink. Marlene regretted ever saying anything in the first place, James having a talent for turning anything anyone ever said about him into an ego boost.

‘Shame that bone structure is distorted by the glasses, four-eyes,’ Marlene teased with a grin, making James feign a heart attack playfully. ‘Seriously, what are you stressed about?’

Marlene followed James’ eyeline which lead to a certain shoulder-length haired Slytherin student, the hair particularly dark and greasy.

‘Really? Snivellus? Already?’ she asked in disbelief. ‘Normally it takes you a bit longer than this, you like to keep your good pranks for him.’

Marlene couldn’t say she had always been too keen on how James and the boys had targeted Severus Snape but seeing how Snape had worsened his treatment of Lily over the years, her small sympathies for him had dwindled to nothing. Lily still insisted on keeping him as a friend which Marlene for the life of her could not understand but refused to stand in the middle of hit. The red-head was fiercely protective of her Slytherin friend.

‘Someone say Snivellus?’ Sirius joined the conversation with a grim, leading Marlene to sigh.

‘Never asked for your opinion, Black,’ she muttered, going back to her work. Sirius expression flicked for a second but returned to normal before anyone could see.

‘Just make sure you’re down by the lake after class, around five, if you want to see what’s going to happen,’ James informed her, and they carried on with their work. Marlene’s blue eyes shifted in response, but she didn’t push the topic.

‘Just know that you’re going to release the fire breathing dragon,’ she warned, motioning to Lily.

The rest of the lesson seemed to finish quickly, with the excitement of the looming prank, but Sirius had an additional thought on his mind. The bell rang to sound the end of the lesson and Sirius packed up quickly, telling the boys he’d meet them in the Common Room to head down before the prank as he was the one who had to initiate it. He slipped into an empty classroom, one that he was sure she would walk past as she always headed to the kitchens on her own on a Friday afternoon. She was a sucker for hot chocolate.

He saw the swish of her blonde hair through the crack in the door and wasted not time in grabbing her arm and pulling her inside with him.

‘What the fuck?’ he heard her shocked voice say before he spun her around to look at him and her face transformed into one of annoyance.

‘Hello, McKinnon,’ he said brightly, but his tone was fake. He was more annoyed than happy and anyone who knew him well could tell. And Marlene could tell.

‘What do you want, Black?’ Marlene asked, crossing her arms defensively. Sirius let out a sarcastic chuckle.

‘Oh, so we’re still on “Black” then, are we? You see, I was just wondering how you are. We didn’t speak much over the summer,’ Sirius said, passive-aggressively, his tone lacking the initial brightness it started with, the further he got through the sentence.

‘Really nothing much,’ she answered shortly, avoiding his eyes. She could Sirius’s gaze burning on her.

‘Fucking hell, Marley, what’s going on with us? What’s up?’ Sirius pressed, beginning to lose his temper at the blonde in front of him. ‘Give me a leg to stand on here.’

Marlene raised her eyes to look into his, his eyes stormy instead of just cloudy. She knew why he used that nickname this time, it was to soften her. He had come up with the nickname one drunken night and had called her it in private ever since, she couldn’t say no to him when he used it.

‘I don’t know what you’re on about,’ Marlene swallowed the lump in her throat, watching as Sirius eyes caught fire.

‘Oh really? Because ever since we fucked, you been treating me as if I’m the damn plague and I don’t really appreciate it,’ Sirius spat, angry and upset. He missed his friend more than anything. As much as he appreciated Remus and Peter and nothing compared to the friendship the four boys had, it wasn't quite like the friendship that had been built between James, Sirius, and Marlene. But with Sirius and Marlene, a tension existed that was never there amongst James and Marlene.

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ Marlene said softly and started making her way for the door.

‘ _Colloportus,_ ’ Sirius growled, locking the classroom door, and pulled Marlene back by her arm. ‘Well I fucking want to, so go on, start talking,’ he dragged her further into the classroom.

Marlene rolled her eyes and once again crossed her arms over her chest, making her cleavage push up, her school shirt buttoned low. Sirius tried not to look.

‘Why do you give so much of a shit?’ Marlene asked, the questioning look in her eyes now genuine as she looked up at the dark haired boy.

‘Because apparently you’ve forgotten about the part where we’re friends first,’ Sirius sighed, making Marlene’s eyeline go back to her shoes. A silence surrounded them, someplace where comfortable and awkward met. A silence only they could create.

‘I know you Sirius, I know what you’re like,’ Marlene spoke finally.

‘What do you me-’

‘And to be completely honest, I don’t really care,’ Marlene cut him off, ready to say her piece. ‘I enjoyed that night, it was good, we were drunk and happy and a nice way to end the year.’

Sirius felt a tightness in his chest, and he wanted to stroke his thumb down her cheek, hell, he wanted to fuck her in the classroom, recreate the night they lost their virginities to each other. After they’d shagged, he realised no one could quite kiss or touch him like Marlene could, no matter how many girls there were. But he didn’t want anything with her. He liked being who he was now, he was young, and didn't want to be tied down to one girl, or anyone. He only gave a shit about getting his friend back.

‘Fair enough,’ he replied after a pause. ‘Friends?’

Marlene finally gave him a small smile, one that indicated that they were good and there was nothing more to worry about with them. They were friends, the past put behind them.

‘Friends,’ she confirmed. ‘Now please tell me what the hell you lot are planning to do to Snape, I’m going mad here.’

‘Ah, that’s for you to find out, McKinney. Seriously, be by the lake at five, you’re not going to want to miss this one, it’ll go down in history,’ Sirius teased her, not giving away the secrets of the prank just yet.

‘Please tell me it’s not something idiotic that can get you expelled,’ Marlene pleaded, running a hand through her blonde curls, a gesture Sirius couldn’t deny admiring.

‘When have we ever done anything idiotic?’

‘The time you dyed my hair green.’

‘That was funny,’ Sirius laughed, but was shut up by Marlene whacking his arm. ‘Ow, alright, alright, you got back at us then, no need to again.’

Marlene smiled up at him. ‘I’ll be there at five, I’ll bring the gang.’

‘Cheers McKinnon, you won’t regret it.’

He threw an arm around her shoulder as he unlocked the classroom door and they headed up to the Gryffindor Tower, joking and laughing together as they had done before the summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a few cute little references splashed around this chapter so if you know, you're the real MVP ahaha ;) I hope you're enjoying the books so far, honestly I'm having way to much fun with it and we finally got some Blackinnon tension, woo (I love them, gotta say).  
> Any critiques or suggestions are welcome, this is your story as well as mine and I want to make it the best it possibly can be,  
> Love, Julia xx


	8. The Giant Squid Incident

James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus made their way down the grand marble stairs of the castle, headed determinedly for the Black Lake, which, despite Sirius’ protests, had absolutely nothing to do with his namesake. They reached the grounds, which were full of people who were making the most of the late autumn sunshine that was still warm as the leaves surrounding them turned golden. Snape was sitting where they expected him to be, under a tree near the shore of the lake, with a small group of fellow Slytherin’s.

Remus looked behind them to see the girls, Lily, Dorcas, Marlene, and Alice, sat near the top of the lake in their own little group, still in their school robes. His eyes were drawn to Dorcas as she let out a laugh at something one of the girls said, her hair gleaming in the sunlight.

‘Oi, Lupin, eyes forward,’ Sirius teased him, snapping his fingers with a smirk. Remus scowled at him and looked down to Sirius’s hands and saw him holding a jar with what seemed like a small, dark burgundy creature with tentacles that seemed to be splashing about in the water.

‘How big are you planning on making it, and Merlin, that was some innuendo,’ Peter giggled at his own words, James patting him on the back in amusement.

‘Well, I want to make in huge and its already charmed to set its sights on Snape. But don’t worry, it’s actually supposed to be really friendly,’ Sirius grinned. James and Peter appeared excited at the plan while Remus dragged a hand down his face in exasperation.

‘Merlin, we’re going to end up in Azkaban,’ he mumbled in jest, which only seemed to elevate Sirius’s enthusiasm. 

‘Nah, they’d have to try and catch us first,’ Sirius snickered in response.

The four boys headed to the edge of the lake where there was shallow water, the jar in hand. Sirius unscrewed the jar and released the small, tentacled creature before taking his wand out of his robes, allowing the little squid to worm its way further into the depths of the lake. Sirius could feel his breath start to hitch in his throat with anticipation for what he was about to do.

‘ _Engorgio,_ ’ he whispered, hearing one of the boy’s gasp behind him. Only if you were looking very closely into the depth of the dark water, if you knew what you were looking for, would you be able to see the now huge tentacles of the squid peeking out at the surface of the water. It almost seemed to be waving at them, teasing them in its approach of doing what they actually wanted the creature to do.

‘Come on, work, please work!’ James uttered, watching the glass of the lake be occasionally broken, the ripples reaching back to them on the shore. And then, all of a sudden, the water returned to its former glory.

‘Wait, how did you actually get Snape down here?’ Remus questioned, his involvement in this particular prank being on the lower end of the spectrum.

‘I got Alice to write him saying that Lily wanted to visit him today. He already knows that Marlene doesn’t like him and she’s close with James and Dorcas is a pureblood. Lily obviously wouldn’t help us with this, so Fortescue was the one,’ Peter explained, his eyes trained on the lake.

‘And he actually believed that?’

‘You know how he is when it comes to Lily. He’s obsessed with her.’

‘You’ll have Frank after you, calling his girlfriend “the one”,’ James joked, but it was lost in the focus of the boys as the prayed for the success of the prank. No one caught on that he butted in to change the subject from Lily and Snape.

Suddenly, the boys watched as an over-grown tentacle erupted from the surface of the lake, in front of where Snape’s group of Slytherin’s, their faces twisting in shock and horror. Screams could be heard as the squid lunged its arm towards them and wrapped it around Snape, the others leaping out of the way for their lives. Snape’s shrieks could be widely heard as he was torn away from the ground and hoisted high in the air by the monstrous limb, a few more of them also breaking the surface.

The students watched on in amazement as Snape began to be tossed into the air and caught just before he would be submerged in water by this novel creature. He expressed his fear very vocally, the Giant Squid showing no signs of slowing down or intention of putting him back on the ground anytime soon. Laughter could be heard from around the lake as the Slytherin’s stared on in horror, not a single notion of what to do to help their housemate.

‘How _dare_ you, you toe-rag!’ the shrill voice of Lily Evans reached the ears of the Marauders, the four of whom were currently buckled over, their laughter so intense that it was soundless. Lily stormed through them, positive that she could feel steam leaving her ears and pushing out through her red hair, giving the impression her whole head was on fire.

‘How the fuck did you do that?’ Marlene questioned them, barely expecting an answer as she, Alice and Dorcas stood next to the boys, watching Lily march down to where Snape was being man-handled (rather, squid-handled). Lily’s hand gripped around her wand so tightly in anger that her knuckles had turned white and she could feel her nails cutting into her palms.

She pointed her wand towards the Giant Squid where Snape was being thrown around and struck the tentacle with a spell that seemed to stun the tentacle and drop Snape in the water. The squid recoiled back into the murky depths of the lake and Snape frantically splashed back to the shore, his robes drenched in icy water. James thought his hair finally looked as though it had been washed for the first time.

‘Severus, are you okay?’ Lily asked the Slytherin frantically as he emerged from the water, coughing and spluttering.

‘Back off, Mudblood, no one asked for your input,’ Antonin Dolohov spat at her, approaching her aggressively. Lily would be lying if she didn’t admit that hearing that slanderous word didn’t make her flinch whenever she was called it.

‘He’s my friend, it’s my job to make sure he’s alright!’ Lily bit back, looking to Snape for support, who simply kept his head down, avoiding her gaze.

‘How dare you associate yourself with us, he is not your friend. Get in your place, Mudblood,’ Evan Rosier stepped in front of Snape, shielding him from Lily.

‘Severus?’ Lily stated more than asked, her eyes wide as she expected him to stand up for her in any sort of way. His dark hair hung in front of his eyes as he continued to almost ignore her, allowing the Slytherin’s to discredit her. Before she could speak again under the glares of Dolohov and Rosier, a hex was suddenly shot into the middle of the group, barely missing Lily’s shoulder. She turned around to see James and Sirius with their wands up, glaring at the Slytherin pack, presumably for defiling her name.

The two of them marched towards the scene, Lily watched as under their glares, the Slytherin’s smirked. Lily could feel her heartbeat start to race, the tension of the situation growing very unstable.

‘Ah, Sirius, my cousin, back with your little sidekick?’ Rosier sneered, as the rest of his pack behind him laughed. James could feel the anger in his chest flare up.

‘You should be disgusted with yourself, calling her that word!’ James raged, dragging the attention off Sirius to avoid a greater conflict than there had to be.

‘We’re just calling her what she is, there’s nothing wrong about that,’ Dolohov spoke innocently as he played with his wand

‘Potter, leave, did I give any notion that I wanted you here?’ Lily said through gritted teeth, her words only making the Slytherin’s holler and mock James and Sirius.

‘You heard the Mudblood, Potter, she’s rather smart for being what she is,’ Dolohov his actions resulting in Sirius’s wand on his throat. He breathed out a laugh.

‘Careful, cousin, you don’t want to start moving mad against what you can’t handle,’ Rosier grinned at the scene unfolding in front of him.

‘You’re no cousin of mine,’ Sirius growled.

‘Oh, you’d like that wouldn’t you,’ Rosier raised his want, his voice growing deadly. Before either of the boys could set off on each other, their wands flew out of their hands and James saw out the corner of his eye as Marlene dragged Lily away from the commotion.

Regulus Black appeared in the circle, the wands of Sirius and Dolohov in his hand. He was almost the spitting image of Sirius, slightly shorter, but with the same dark hair, grey eyes and high cheekbones, the aristocratic look running in his veins. His eyes met with Sirius’s and they narrowed on each other, but there was still an element of brotherly attachment. Sirius hated the green and silver tie his brother wore around his neck. He wanted to rip it off every moment he saw it. Looking at his brother, it was a reminder of everything Sirius should have been.

‘The little brother comes to save you, huh, Black?’

‘Shut it, Rosier,’ Regulus spoke, his stormy eyes still of Sirius, who flashed with anger, as he handed Dolohov back his wand. Rosier rolled his eyes but stepped back along with the rest of the Slytherin pack, allowing Regulus to deal with his brother and his friend. Despite Sirius being in Gryffindor, he was still a member of the House of Black which rendered respect from the rest of them and so they let Regulus deal with him.

‘Snape, get in a fucking shower, you reek,’ Dolohov wrinkled his nose, and the group of them headed back up to the castle, leaving Regulus, Sirius, and James as a trio.

‘You’re a twat,’ Regulus spoke first, finally returning Sirius’s wand to him. Sirius pocketed it, the ghost of a smirk on his face.

‘Keep your little snakes under control.’

‘You keep your lot under control, you started the confrontation,’ Regulus bit back, clamping Sirius shut at the truth.

‘They call Evans a – well – you know,’ James stuttered. Regulus shook his head in disdain, biting the inside of his hollow cheek.

‘They’re never going to stop, get that into your skull. Just keep the Muggle girl under wraps if you know what’s good for her,’ Regulus replied sinisterly, shoving his hands into his pockets. ‘See you at Christmas,’ he aimed Sirius and then walked off into the direction of the castle, presumably following his fellow Slytherin’s. On his way up, he clocked the stare of blue eyes on him. He pushed his hair off his forehead and disappeared through the grand entrance.

‘You okay?’ James asked Sirius as they watched his brother march up the hill. Sirius nodded in response.

Lily adamantly ignored not only James but all four of the Marauders for the next few days over their prank on Snape. She didn’t react to any of James’s taunts or the several attempts Remus made at setting up study dates. It was the longest she’d gone not exchanging words with Remus since they’re first interaction, as she couldn’t help but feel like this was one of the worst pranks they had ever pulled on her friend.

‘Don’t worry, she’s just pissed off, but she’ll come round eventually,’ Dorcas had tried to console Remus over the days who was feeling more and more awful about his role in the prank. And as far as the boys knew, the Giant Squid was the newest resident of the Black Lake, with no intention of being removed, having seen its limbs breaking the surface of the water.

Lily was sitting alone in the Library in evening, busy trying to finish her essay in Ancient Runes. She had felt rather down the whole day over the sequence of events and she hated the fact that Snape struggled to stand up for her. They were supposed to be best friends, but she felt their friendship slowly crumbling over the past few years and she wasn’t taking it well. It used to be Snape who was her main study partner, but over the years that had changed to Remus as Snape grew closer and closer to his Slytherin friends and her own bonds with the girls grew stronger over time. She still, however, couldn’t help but feel that hole in her heart where Snape belonged.

‘Lily?’ a timid voice made the candles flicker, so lightly that she almost through she’d imagined the voice. She turned around to see Severus Snape leant against some bookshelves. The bags under his eyes were very noticeable and Lily noticed a look of shame on his face as he observed her, a look that was unfortunately become more and more common during their interactions as the years wore on.

‘Hi,’ Lily said, giving him a small smile which seemed to visibly calm him. He moved closer to her, grabbing himself a seat as he did and perched on it.

‘How have you been?’ he asked eloquently. That was one thing about Snape that Lily thoroughly enjoyed. He was articulate and had a wealth of knowledge of both the wizarding world and her Muggle world.

‘Not too well, if I’m honest,’ Lily said bluntly. She was never one to beat around the bush, apart from with her older sister, Petunia. ‘It’s felt like a long week.’

Snape nodded in agreement. ‘It has been for me too,’ he replied shortly. He watched Lily play with her quill, and awkwardness settling among them. ‘Lily, I –’

‘Why are you friends with them?’

The question caught Snape off guard. Normally when the spoke, they avoided the topic of his Slytherin acquaintances, rather they focused on enjoying each other’s company, reminiscing on their adventures before Hogwarts.

‘What do you mean?’ he questioned, a frown building up on his face. Lily could see he was becoming defensive.

‘They’re horrible, Sev. The way they talk to me, the way they treat any Muggle-born –’

‘You don’t understand –’

‘- and you just stand there and let them do that. You know it’s wrong, yet you let them be horrible and use derogatory terms and make us feel like we are less than they are. And for what? All over who your parents are? It’s not right,’ Lily finished, shaking her head with her final sentences. She had wanted to say her piece for a while with Snape but had always been sensitive to him and kept her thoughts to herself, no matter how awful his friends were.

‘I’m not in the same situation as you, Lily, not even a similar one,’ Snape said after a spout of silence, taking in her words. He found them frustrating, her frustrating.

‘I don’t see how you’re going to spin an excuse out of this,’ Lily’s voice hardened, seeing she hadn’t got through to her friend the way she had hoped to. Snape swallowed loudly.

‘Your life isn’t like my life. I’m not surrounded by the same type of people you are. You get to live in your house, with your friends and others. I’m trying to survive,’ Snape said roughly, looking out of the window that was behind Lily, seeing the darkness envelop the grounds.

‘You don’t have to be friends with them, though,’ Lily whispered at his words.

‘And be treated like the scum of the earth? Be an outcast with no one? I don’t want them to act towards me the way they do towards…’ Snape trailed off, his eyes running over Lily, watching as her green eyes glassed over.

‘Me, you mean,’ she finished off his sentence, her voice breaking as she did. Snape let out a troubled sigh and put his hand over Lily’s fisted one to comfort her.

‘Lily, I do not think the way they do. You are my best friend. But I cannot be myself the way you can here. It would ruin me with them,’ Snape squeezed her hand in reassurance, and Lily couldn’t help but let her heart reach out to him.

‘I’m sorry, Sev, I should be more understanding, I know we don’t work the same here. I just don’t want to lose a friend like you, and it’s enough knowing that you are always there for me,’ Lily replied with a smile and flipped her hand round so she was holding his.

‘To remind you, I could not care less that you are a Muggle-born. It’s one of the best things about you,’ Snape returned her smile. ‘I should get going. I have to perfect my Eradication spell for Flitwick.’

Snape stood up and Lily noticed the gleam of his green Prefect badge. ‘Congratulations on Prefect, by the way, I haven’t managed to tell you in person yet,’ she commended him as she began packing her work away. They had kept in touch over the summer and she had received a letter from him telling her he had been awarded the honour. Her penmanship sent her regards, but she had yet not.

‘Thank you, Lily. You too,’ Snape retaliated the compliment with a nod of the head before he disappeared around the corner of the bookshelves.

Lily felt a weight be lifted off her shoulders as she left the Library, her mood significantly elevated after her conversation with Snape. Her book of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5_ pressed against her chest, she made her way back up to the Gryffindor Common Room, ready for an early night after her exhausting day.

‘Lily Evans, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you wandering around the halls of Hogwarts when its nearly curfew,’ Lily’s favourite Scottish accent bounced off the walls and she turned around to see the blonde curls of Marlene.

Marlene and Lily had become best friends in their first year at Hogwarts and were pretty much attached to the hip since, despite Marlene’s affiliation with James that Lily graciously forgave her for, much to Marlene’s amusement. Marlene had instantly stuck up for Lily when Aoibh Imptrop, a stuck-up Slytherin girl called out Lily for being a Muggle-born on her third day and was horribly nasty to her. Marlene couldn’t stand the way Lily had been spoken to and stepped in for her, and ever since then, they were bonded.

‘McKinnon, please tell me you’ve been down to the kitchens, because Lord knows I could use some brownies,’ Lily laughed. Marlene looked behind her comedically, before lifting her robe and presenting Lily with a plate of brownies.

‘Am I or am I not your saviour?’ Marlene teased, looping her arm through Lily’s as they both started walking towards Gryffindor Tower together.

‘You are my guardian angel more than anything,’ Lily beamed as they jumped over a trick step together.

‘Also, stop with the “Lord” thing, its weird,’ Marlene wrinkled her nose, making Lily roll her eyes. ‘So where you coming back from?’

‘The Library,’ Lily replied, hesitating before telling Marlene her next piece of news. ‘Actually, Severus came and found me.’

Lily saw as Marlene gave her a side glance but didn’t say anything, confirming that Lily should continue. She knew Marlene wasn’t Snape’s biggest fan, but she was kind enough to attempt and hide her aversion to him from Lily.

‘He kind of apologised for what happened that day, how he treated me.’

‘He _kind of_ apologised?’ Marlene enunciated, slowing down their walk.

‘Yeah, he said –’

‘Lily, did the words “I’m sorry” leave that boys mouth, or did he just make excuses?’ Marlene asked in an incredulous manner, making them step and look at each other. Lily shifted from foot to foot nervously.

‘He explained to me why he did what he did, and it makes sense!’ Lily defended, though she wasn’t sure if it was herself or Snape.

‘And I bet ten galleons that in the end, it was you who apologised to him when you were the one who literally saved him from the squid while the rest of his so called _friends_ sat and watched him be a toy,’ Marlene said bluntly, riling Lily up.

‘You just have Potter in your head all the time, that’s why you can’t see him for who he truly is,’ Lily argued, clutching her books closer to her chest. Marlene scoffed at her words.

‘I'd rather have James’s mentality any day over yours when it comes to Snape. You let that boy manipulate you over and over, everything ends up in you apologising,’ Marlene responded.

‘He’s just in a difficult position with those Slytherin’s,’ Lily protested.

‘No, Lily. What you can’t see is that up in our Tower, you have guys willing to defend you for being a Muggle-born while Snape and his mates slander you for it. How he’s got you so blind I’ll never know,’ Marlene threw a hand up in despair and started making her way further up the staircase.

‘I don’t want anyone protecting me for who I am, I’m proud of it,’ Lily asserted herself against her friend. Marlene turned around on the top of the stairs and looked at her, with what emotion, Lily didn’t know.

‘And that’s great, Lils, it is, but think about it. It’s Slytherin families that are killing the Muggle-borns that keep showing up in the _Prophet_. Snape isn’t the one going to be your knight in shining armour.’

‘You don’t know that it’s Slytherin families.’

‘Who is it that’s calling you a Mudblood? I bet you ten galleons.’ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I'm slightly too excited to be finally writing about Lily and Snape's relationship, I find it quite fascinating. I find Lily to be such a complex character and I can't wait to explore her more in the coming chapters. I've also always thought that the Marauders should have some role in the Giant Squid being in the lake, so I decided to make it happen for myself lol :)  
> I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, the next one will be up soon.  
> Love, Julia xx


	9. Foul Moon

There were a few days in a month where Remus Lupin was late to breakfast for not so obvious reasons. He trudged his way down the Gryffindor table to reach the three guys he called his best friends and slammed his body down into a seat, rattling the cutlery, plates and goblets as he did so. He grabbed two chocolate chip muffins from the assortment that sat in front of him and poured himself some hot chocolate, tipping three extra spoonful’s of sugar in it. 

‘You alright there, Moony?’ Peter asked, one eyebrow tipped up as he watched the werewolf demolish a bite of the first muffin. Remus only ever had such a calorie-stricken, sweet breakfast when he was to transform that night.

‘So we’re sticking with that nickname?’ Remus asked, rubbing his temples.

‘Well, it does have an air of truth about it, don’t you think?’ Sirius teased, bumping shoulders with the current ticking time bomb.

‘Don’t try me today, Black, I will toss you off the astronomy tower,’ Remus threatened, downing a gulp of hot chocolate.

‘You wouldn’t ruin my favourite place in the castle for me,’ Sirius grinned, receiving the most intense side glare any of them had gotten from Remus before.

‘Try me.’

‘Woah, Rem, something particularly bad about this one? It’s only your first of the year’ James asked, being slightly more sympathetic than his dark haired counterpart. Remus sighed in response, resting his chin in his hand, propped up by his elbow.

‘I don’t know, might be due to OWLs, I’m more tired than usual,’ Remus thought aloud, giving his friends a tired smile. More of a grimace.

‘You got to take it easier, mate, OWLs are ages away’ Peter said to him, creasing his forehead in worry.

‘Your furry little problem needs you to,’ James pushed the notion further, lowering his voice slightly as he spoke.

‘Furry little problem?’ Dorcas repeated James’s words, stopping as she was about to make her way past them. Remus, who had his back to her, shot daggers at the spectacled boy, who winced at her repetition. She was with Lily, who rolled her eyes at the stop.

‘Remus’s weirdly aggressive rabbit,’ Sirius responded to her automatically, not bothering to turn round. It was there automatic response to anyone who could accidentally overhear them talking about the furry little problem.

‘Oh,’ Dorcas frowned, watching as Remus turned round to see her. ‘Remus, you look really pale, is everything okay?’ she questioned, peering at him, which made him shift uncomfortably.

‘Yeah, I’m fine, I just thinking I’m coming down with a bit of a cold,’ Remus answered her. ‘Plus I’m heading out to see my mum this afternoon, she’s gotten a bit unwell.’

‘Are you sure you should be travelling if you’re feeling like that?’ Lily asked him, worry etched on her face. Lily had slowly started coming round to speaking to Remus again after the Snape debacle. Remus was glad, but at this particular moment, he didn’t need Lily’s natural curiosity and care. He hated lying, but he had no option. He couldn’t let them know what he was.

‘Yeah, you should go see Madam Pomfrey as well, I’m sure she’ll give you some Pepperup potion, get you feeling better,’ Dorcas added, gently giving Remus a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, which made his stomach jump slightly.

‘Thanks, Ace, I might,’ he replied shortly, wanting the conversation to end.

‘Guys, can we go the toilet, I’m kind of bursting,’ Marlene butted in, popping her head in the middle of the two girls. They agreed, Marlene throwing a wink back at Remus as she headed out of the Great Hall.

‘I will never understand why girls go in packs to the bathroom,’ Peter wondered aloud, a faraway look in his eye.

‘I don’t quite think she actually needed the toilet, Pete,’ James said to him, fighting the urge to snip sarcastically at the sometimes clueless boy. Peter could sometimes very well live up to the blonde in him, as Sirius would joke.

Marlene knew about Remus, much to his aversion of telling anyone. She had found out in her fourth year when she had grown sick of James not including her in aspects of his life, after all, they were practically brother and sister. She had cornered Remus and James one afternoon, saying she felt like her and James were growing apart and she didn’t want that. James had tried his best to stutter his way out of the situation to protect Remus before the werewolf simply blurted it out, leading James’s eyes to widen to the size of saucers. Remus trusted Marlene, she had kept many of James’s secrets that he knew of. He had tested her on a few of them and she had acted like she had no clue what he was talking about, even when he admitted to James already telling him the secret.

Of course, telling Marlene that Remus was a werewolf was a completely different ballgame. He had no idea how she would react, but he’d never forgive himself for coming in between such a strong friendship like James and Marlene, who had been friends long before he even met James, despite how loyal James was to him. So Remus felt that he owed it to James to get him out of a rock and a hard place. So he took the plunge and exposed himself for what he was. Of course, he would have been sad to lose a friend like Marlene, but the worst that would happen was that she’d avoid him like the plague, but he knew she wouldn’t tell anyone. Marlene was too good for gossip.

Her reaction had been rather comical. She had stared at him for a second, confusion clear in her face before she had closed her eyes and slapped her hand to her forehead. She then shook her head a few times, seemingly passing her confusion onto Remus and James.

‘I am actually stupid, and I pride myself on actually being quite good at Defence,’ Marlene had laughed, grinning at the scratched-up boy, remembering their lesson on werewolves in third year. ‘So much makes sense now!’

She had then gone on to question gone on to question Remus about the various aspects of his “wolfiness” shocking Remus with her laid back response to his revelation of what he was. Needless to say, she had also profusely apologised to them for making them reveal such confidential information. Both he and James had sworn her to secrecy, leading her to even offering to perform an Unbreakable Vow. Remus thought that was a tad too far, and so settled for her word, trusting her.

‘So you don’t care that I’m a – you know,’ Remus had stammered as the trio had walked to their first class. Marlene had stopped them walking and hugged Remus, shocking him.

‘Remus, of course not, this doesn’t change what you are! If anything it’s simply another wonderful part of you. It’s just a good thing you’re not a vampire, ‘cause _then_ we’d have a problem,’ Marlene had joked, forming a new kind of friendship between the werewolf and then blonde. There grew the an almost level trust between them as he had with the boys, and it was clear she was very protective of him.

Marlene had become very useful to their secret whenever anyone other than the boys started to ask questions and become curious about where Remus went every month and why. She would swoop into the conversation, changing the subject entirely or leading the person away, allowing Remus space to breathe. All in all, she had become a rather key player in the whole operation of keeping Remus’s furry little problem a secret.

After lunch, Remus was allowed to retire to his dorm for the remainder of the day to rest after collecting any work he needed from teachers. He normally spent the day after a full moon in the Hospital Wing, recovering and catching up on any work he had assigned. This time, he had been given a particularly nasty Astronomy star chart to draw, much to the apologies of Professor Lyra Destra. She was a particularly young and pretty Professor, with long dark hair who was extremely sympathetic of Remus’s situation, what with being also very affiliated to the moon and stars. Sirius liked to flirt with her on any possible occasion he was given.

Remus lay on his back, staring up into the wooden ceiling of his four-poster bed. The scarlet curtains fluttered a gentle breeze from the open window pushed them. The room was surprisingly neat for who he was living with. Neither James, Sirius nor Peter were remarkably neat, but with Remus’s nagging, they managed to keep only a few things randomly scattered around the room. Remus himself, couldn’t completely subside his actions from the messiness, a few chocolate frog wrappers scattered on his side of the room.

He felt rather bored, as he scanned his bedroom, making his way through a large bar of chocolate from _Sugarplum’s Sweet Shop_ in Diagon Alley that his father sent him. He knew he was supposed to be sleeping but his craving for chocolate at a full moon didn’t allow for such activities. It was why he had always refused one of Sirius’s hand-rolled joints. Remus reckoned he got enough a high from the sugar without the addition of anything else.

Despite his boredom, he tore his way through one of his Muggle fiction books, allowing the rest of the afternoon to pass rather quickly. At some point, he had actually managed to doze off and was awoken by the thunder of three, loud teenage boys, tearing him away from his slumber.

‘Shit, sorry Remus, did we wake you?’ James asked, immediately when he noticed the werewolf rubbing his eyes.

‘Nope, just remind me to punch you late,’ Remus replied sarcastically, tossing his legs over the side of his bed to sit upright. He offered them a close-lipped smile as he shook the sleep off.

‘Don’t remind him, I’ve been on the receiving end of a werewolf punch, it ain’t pretty,’ Sirius teased as he changed into a more comfortable set of clothes, slam-dunking his collared school shirt into their laundry basket.

‘Are you trying to fucking irritate me today?’ Remus swore, looking up at his jester tiredly, to which Sirius simply grinned.

‘Ooh, swearwolf,’ he laughed, falling back into his bed while Peter lunged a cushion at him to shut him up.

‘What’s your plan for your day in bed tomorrow?’ Peter asked as he perched on his own bed, cross-legged in anticipation.

‘I have that bloody star chart to do, but I was thinking on also getting some work with those Ancient Runes scrolls done. I checked this out of the Library,’ Remus presented them with one of the bulkiest, heaviest books they’d ever seen. It was slightly fraying at the edges, the binding very fragile. ‘It’s an advanced dictionary, above NEWTs level. Turns out those Runes are actually very tricky,’ Remus added, seeing the boys’ astounded faces.

‘Remus, you are some lad for this,’ Peter voiced what the other two were thinking. ‘I swear, the shit we for some things.’

‘I don’t know why we’re still bothering with those notes, surely they can’t help up with much,’ James said, amusing himself by tossing his Golden Snitch that he had since winning his first House Cup playing for Gryffindor.

‘Are you not even the slightest bit curious? There could be some gem in there,’ Peter said as he tucked into a pumpkin pasty he had stashed away in his bedside table.

‘It’s just some dude hiding away some notes that probably don’t mean anything anyway. I just reckon it’s a bit of a waste of time,’ James spoke nonchalantly, thought when it came to James, his words always came out a little arrogant without him meaning them to.

‘Ignore his chat, mate, we just won’t tell him what it’s about when you figure it out,’ Sirius patted Remus on the back before grabbing some red ink and a large stretch of parchment, laying it out in front of him.

‘What are you lot going to get up to tonight?’ Remus asked as he started packing his small bag that he always took with him to the Hospital Wing with the things that he’d need. He put the fragile rolls of parchment at the very top before zipping the bag.

‘I’m just going to work on this tonight,’ Sirius replied, his voice already reflecting the focus he was giving to his current task at hand.

‘Wow, no chasing skirts tonight?’ James chuckled, flashing the word that they used for the girls they hooked up with.

‘Ah, I might, you never know if the mood suddenly springs up later,’ Sirius winked, the innuendo in his word not lost on the boys.

‘What girl actually still goes for you two, I’ll never know,’ Remus chortled, receiving two middle fingers in response.

Sooner than Remus would have liked, he was bidding his friends goodbye and heading up to the Hospital Wing to drop off his bag of belongings and be escorted by Madam Pomfrey to the Whomping Willow. From there he would take the long, damp, dark tunnel to the run-down, wooden establishment that was the Shrieking Shack, where he underwent the painful monthly transformation that he was burdened with.

The transformation felt like someone was cutting open his skin to allow the hair and muscle and claws to erupt from inside him. Every month, Remus thought he could maybe get used to them pain that accompanied the transformation, but he was wrong. He’d lose his sense of self, forget who he was and lose control. Being cooped up in the little shack as a werewolf lead to more pain than he should have been dealing with, he wanted to scratch and tear his way out of himself, which is what lead to the many scrapes and scars that littered his body. A wolf was to roam outside to be free, yet he was confined on his own in a small room which he tore both it and himself apart, letting out agonising howls throughout the night as the moon poured in through the windows cruelly. As a human, he could at least understand why he was in pain. As a wolf, he was clueless.

Back in the dorm, Peter, Sirius, and James sat by a window between their beds as the moonlights shone down on them. Over the years, they couldn’t deny growing a deep hatred for the bright ball of rock that sat in the night sky. As Remus grew older, the more powerful and angry he grew as a werewolf and the worse his injuries became as a result. Madam Pomfrey did the best she could to patch him up, but werewolf inflicted scars were powerful. That was why now, the three of them sat in a circle. In the middle of them, three delicately picked Mandrake leaves, one for each one of them.

They’d be lying if they said they weren’t dreading it. A month with an unpleasant tasting leaf in their mouth was not something many people were willing to put themselves through. But if it could prevent their friend from beating himself up every time the moon reached a full circle, they couldn’t allow themselves not to do it.

‘Please, let just none of us swallow the blasted things, I can’t be arsed having to repeat this,’ James muttered, holding the leaf up in front of his face as though it was his arch-nemesis.

‘Here’s to the next full moon being a non-cloudy one,’ Sirius sighed as the three of them did a cheers motion, clinking their leaves before placing them in their mouths, their faces twisting as though they had taken an exceptionally bad shot of absinthe.

‘This tastes worse than Hippogriff shit,’ Peter mumbled, pushing the leaf into the side of his cheek in an effort to conceal it.

‘I don’t know whether the be concerned that you know what Hippogriff shit tastes like, or just accept it,’ Sirius teased, receiving karma almost instantaneously from his words as he started coughing from the leaf, leaving Peter with a smirk.

* * *

Dorcas clutched a note from Professor Sprout in hand, making her way along the stone floor of the castle, humming to herself as she observed the patter of rain on the windows as she walked past them. She was feeling strangely well rested and focused on class, but she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to skive off for a bit and deliver a note to Madam Pomfrey. The matron resided on the fourth floor, she could take her time.

Normally the doors to the Hospital Wing were wide open as to not delay any potential scenarios where someone was badly injured. Today, however, they were firmly shut, leading Dorcas’s forehead to crease.

She flatly placed her hand on the wood and pushed hard to open one of the heavy double doors and poked her head around it. She scanned the room, finding that all the beds were empty bar one, which had the curtains halfway shut around it. The section where the occupied bed was exposed, sat Albus Dumbledore.

He appeared to be happily chatting to whoever the dweller of the bed was, though he kept his voice low, meaning Dorcas couldn’t hear what he was saying. She slipped in through the crack she’d made in the door, careful to shut it as silently as possible. She turned around to see Professor Dumbledore standing up, patting whoever was in the bed on the head as a means of farewell. He then started to make his way towards Dorcas, ice blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles.

‘Good afternoon, Miss Meadowes. Madam Pomfrey has just stepped out for a moment, but I’m sure you don’t mind waiting for her with whatever business you have,’ Dumbledore spoke to her, his white beard twitching from his smile.

‘No – I mean – not at all, sir,’ Dorcas stammered, still slightly shocked at the Headmasters appearance. She had never seen him so up close, only from afar during mealtimes. He normally kept to himself in his office and she never had any reason to visit him there. In fact, she didn’t even know where his office was.

‘Nice to see you, Miss Meadowes,’ Dumbledore nodded to her and left the Wing, closing the door behind him as she’d done.

Slightly bewildered, she took her steps forward into the Wing, prepared to leave the note at the desk Madam Pomfrey had at the opposite end of the doors. She had always liked the Hospital Wing as a room in general, with it’s tall windows that allowed light to flood in when the sun was shining.

‘Dorcas?’ an inquisitive voice made her jump as she passed the single bed that was occupied. She had planned not to peer in despite her curiosity, out of respect for whoever it was.

‘Remus?’ she asked, surprised to see the sandy haired boy under the covers in long sleeved pyjamas. ‘What are you doing here, I thought you were supposed to be visiting your mum?’

‘Oh, that got cancelled, I took your advice and went to see Pomfrey before I left and it turns out I was running a pretty high fever, so, I’ve ended up here,’ Remus explained. Dorcas couldn’t ignore how drained he looked as he bent over to his bedside table, wincing to glug some water.

‘Must have been a pretty bad fever for her to keep you over night,’ Dorcas couldn’t help but pry as she noticed some white bandages peeping out from under his sleeves.

Remus waved his hand dismissively. ‘Nah, you know, Poppy, she just worries too much, loves and over exaggeration,’ the werewolf smiled at her. Dorcas giggled.

‘You call her Poppy?’ she quizzed happily, taking a seat on the chair that was positioned at the end of his bed.

‘Yeah, she gets annoyed by it, it’s funny,’ Remus chuckled, his brown eyes taking Dorcas in. She moved to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear when she caught sight of some unfolded parchment at the , surprising her. She knew that handwriting.

‘That’s my grandfather’s handwriting,’ she muttered, leaning forward to pull the parchment out, Remus sitting up further, a little worry clambering onto his face.

‘What?’ he asked, his voice holding a panic to it. Dorcas looked up at him with her brows furrowed.

‘This is my grandfathers writing, he’s the one who taught me French,’ Dorcas scanned over the notes as she breathed out her reply. I actually really want to go see him, I haven’t seen him this summer, my family was too busy.’

Remus watched as Dorcas happily looked over the notes flipped through the notes. He could see the love she felt for her grandfather by the way she inspected them.

‘I could get you to him, if you’d like,’ Remus was suddenly saying, his voice leaving his body before his brain could catch up to what he was saying. Dorcas’s neck shot up to look at him.

‘You mean it? How?’ Dorcas asked, sitting up straighter from the new information she was provided with. ‘Could you get me there after Hallowe’en?’

‘Yeah, you know that pub at the edge of Hogsmeade?’

‘Yeah, no one goes there, The Quill Tavern, or something,’ Dorcas replied thoughtfully, trying to picture the pub. ‘What about it?’

‘Well, the boys and I haven’t spent the last two years sucking up to the owner for nothing,’ Remus laughed, recalling the many times they had charmed the owner, Heron Silverling, into providing them with stronger butterbeer of Firewhisky. Heron certainly had a soft spot for them.

‘How will we get to my grandfather from there?’

‘We go by Floo.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my people :)  
> Thank you for all your comments so far, you all so truly lovely and wonderful. I couldn't have asked for better criticism, advice and suggestions so far, it's all been so helpful.  
> I am currently working on perfecting an upload schedule, which I will be working with very soon and you will be the first to know, I just want to make sure that I will be completely on top of all the chapters and deadlines I set myself. I wouldn't want to miss a single deadline for you guys. At the moment, I'm thinking of having my upload day as either a Tuesday or a Friday, or you never know, maybe both ;).  
> I'm loving writing this, and thank you so much for all your support,  
> Love, Julia xx


	10. Hourglass

‘So what about you, Fortescue, any romance in the air?’ Emmeline Vance whooped as she lay on Lily’s bed clutching the bottle of Firewhisky that Marlene had brought with her. Needless to say, Emmeline was something of a lightweight.

‘Okay,’ Marlene sang awkwardly, grabbing the bottle out of Emmeline’s hand and placing it down on her bedside table as Emmeline dangled her legs in the air, making the others giggle at her. ‘That’s enough for you.’

The girls, Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice where holding somewhat of a girls soirée in their dorm for a few Gryffindor girls. Dotted around the room were also Emmeline, Aurora Sinistra and Violet Pandarar. They were passing around the bottle of Firewhisky, and Alice had provided them with a variety of treats.

‘Spoilsport,’ Emmeline giggled, flipping over onto her stomach. ‘Anyway, come on, Alice. Tell us who’s been chatting you up.’

‘Ha, yeah, absolutely no one,’ Alice laughed awkwardly, scratching the back for her neck as she sat, Turkish style on a plethora of pillows. One thing the girls were very good at was making a room extremely cosy.

‘Come on, Alice, there must be some man searching for your affections,’ Aurora said playfully moving up onto a bed.

‘Nope, I am not interested in anything or anyone right now,’ Alice lied through her teeth, her mind wandering to Frank. She was supposed to go see him tonight before the little girls night had been organised and she hated cancelling on him. She enjoyed spending time with him far too much for that, but she didn’t want to make the girls suspicious. She did miss him a lot, however, when she had to skip their nights, like a soldier’s wife. 

‘If anything we should be getting all the chat out about you, Emmy, how are you and Gideon doing?’ Dorcas laughed, her question making a tipsy Emmeline blush and a pretty sober Lily shift uncomfortably.

Gideon Prewett was the twin brother of Fabian Prewett, both in Gryffindor and fifth year, with Gideon dating Emmeline since the start of the year. She was the first of the girls to have ever had a public boyfriend, Gideon not being her first one. Emmeline often jumped between boys, and although the girls didn’t say anything, the were not too happy about her going out with a sweet boy like Gideon. From the way he looked at her, they could tell he adored her, much to the annoyance of Lily and the flipping in her stomach. Emmeline was very pretty with straight, chocolate brown hair and bright blue, almost violet eyes.

‘Oh, yes, he’s wonderful, but have any of you noticed how fit Sirius Black got over the holidays, like, damn,’ Emmeline swooned, her eyes giving off a faraway look.

‘Emmeline, remember you actually have a boyfriend,’ Aurora chimed in with what everyone was thinking. ‘You only started dating him this September.’

‘Yeah, I know, but let me give you the skinny on this,’ Emmeline started, the alcohol she consumed controlling her thoughts more so than her conscious. ‘Gideon, yes, is lovely. He’s sweet and funny and all that shit. But he’s just a bit too goody-goody, I’m not really into that.’

‘Why did you even start dating him then?’ Marlene quizzed her, pressing her lips to the bottle. Her eyes shifted to Lily slightly, watching her reaction.

‘Ah, well, you know, I didn’t actually know that bit about him,’ Emmeline hiccupped in response.

‘But surely you knew that about Gideon before, he’s always been like that,’ Lily chipped in nonchalantly, getting an exaggerated shake of the head from the one she was questioning.

‘No, you find that out in the dating part, you putz! You don’t know the person you’re going to date that well until you actually start dating!’ Emmeline explained to them as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

‘And now it all makes sense,’ Violet muttered under her breath sardonically, making Dorcas, who she was sitting next to, smirk.

‘But Sirius Black, damn. I would not mind a shag off of him,’ Emmeline added dreamily.

‘Ask him, he’ll happily give you one,’ Marlene chuckled.

‘Merlin, Marls. Don’t put ideas like that in her head while she still has a boyfriend!’ Aurora laughed, catching Emmeline before she rolled off the bed.

‘ _Why_ she has a boyfriend, though, none of us know,’ Dorcas mumbled in response.

Before long, Aurora and Violet took Emmeline’s arms around their shoulders and bid the other four a goodbye and thank you for hosting them as Emmeline was practically falling asleep on her feet, signifying that it was time to call it a night. The girls left in their room, brushed their teeth, and climbed into bed, still giggling about the nights conversations and larks.

Lily closed the curtains around her bed so as to not disturb her friends who wanted to sleep once the lights were off and cast the spell for her wand to produce a light. She grabbed the current book she was reading and continued her way through it, not feeling very tired at all. Only around, maybe, an hour later, was she disturbed.

‘Lily?’ Marlene’s voice hissed at her, a level above whisper. ‘Are you asleep?’

‘No,’ Lily replied, closing over her book in anticipation as a pyjama short wearing blonde climbed through her curtain fortress and sat opposite on her bed. ‘What’s up?’ Lily asked.

The two had wordlessly put their little spat the other day behind them, neither of them able to stay annoyed at each for long periods of time. It was just as well as otherwise, dorm living would have been difficult. It was a significant part of their friendship, where neither of them felt the need to say sorry, but they were able to acknowledge their differences in opinions and accept them.

‘Don’t think I didn’t notice the irritation on your face when Vance was talking about Prewett,’ Marlene said teasingly, making Lily roll her eyes, an abashed smile giving away her thoughts.

‘Shush, you.’

‘I knew it!’

‘Alright, alright, calm down,’ Lily giggled, listening to make sure then hadn’t woken up Dorcas or Alice who were sleeping soundly. ‘I may have a tiny, tiny, baby crush on him.’

Marlene squealed with excitement. ‘Since when, woman, when?’ she asked, almost bouncing up and down on the bed.

‘Well, obviously, we’re both Prefects, so we’ve spent a bit of time together and he’s just, really quite lovely. But I would never go anywhere near him while he’s dating Emmeline, I couldn’t, I’d feel too guilty,’ Lily replied, twirling her wand in her hand.

‘Don’t worry, Lils, I can’t see the two of them lasting that long together,’ Marlene reassured her. ‘She doesn’t seem too bothered by him.’

‘And what about you, are you okay?’ Lily asked, rendering Marlene’s features puzzled.

‘About what?’

‘Well, the whole her being interested in Black thing, I mean, aren’t you two quite close?’ Lily asked, stretching her back a little and cracking a few bones. Marlene stifled a laugh.

‘Nah, the girls welcome to him, I couldn’t care less. I wish her luck trying to make Black accept the title of a boyfriend,’ Marlene guffawed at the notion. ‘I’d be more worried if she was trying to go after James, I couldn’t stand her messing about with him for a second.’

‘She doesn’t seem Potter’s type anyway.’

‘No, she’s not,’ Marlene smirked. ‘Would you say yes to Gideon if he asked you out, though?’

‘Would it be too much red hair?’

‘Absolutely not, your babies would be adorable!’

The next morning, James awoke to the unpleasant taste of mildewed Mandrake leaf settling further into his mouth, making its home there. He groaned, desperate to brush his teeth as soon as possible, but obviously carefully so as to not unsettle the leaf. Himself, as well as Sirius and Peter had done well so far in leaving the leaf undisturbed in their mouth. Remus was still completely against them doing anything further with the Animagi operation, but they had started tuning out his protests, all in good faith.

He turned his head to the side and slipped on his glasses to see an hourglass, still quite full, but the top section definitely less so than it had been when they started, making him feel better. The hourglass had been Peter’s idea. He had enchanted it to last a month so when the placed the Mandrake leaves in their mouth, he flipped the hourglass so they could visually see how much longer they had to go. At first, neither Sirius nor James saw the point in the little contraption, knowing they simply had to wait until the next full moon, knowing when it was going to be already. But it had turned out to be a rather nice little motivator.

‘What the hell is in your mouth?’ Dorcas had asked James in Divination, the stuffy room sending them to sleep, making their minds foggy rather than allowing them to unfog the future.

‘These perfumes are definitely making you see things Meadowes, unless you’re wanting a snog, ‘cause in that case, you’re not my type,’ James had replied teasingly, Dorcas whacking his shoulder as a response.

‘I wouldn’t go for you in a million years, toe-rag,’ she threw back at him, using the insult Lily often used for him to make the response sting a little more.

The worst times for James and Sirius were during Quidditch. Not only was the leaf in their mouths incredibly distracting but the weather over the past weeks had been absolutely brutal towards them, more so than usual. The wind was so strong that it made controlling their brooms very difficult as well as making it difficult to breathe. Sirius had almost choked when a sudden gust had forced the leaf to the back of his throat. The relentless shower of rain made it difficult for them all to see. James even initiated some research in the Library, a truly rare sight, so he could find a charm to repel the water from his glasses.

‘God, I feel bad for Marls, having to train in this weather,’ Lily sympathised as she and Dorcas sat in the Library one evening, finishing off some homework before they had to head to a Prefect meeting. They had invited Alice along, but she had said she wanted nap, so she’d meet them there. 

‘Honestly, stop with the weird Muggle expressions, Lils,’ Dorcas laughed as she sat back in her chair sucking on a sugar quill.

‘Your dad was a Muggle-born, it’s shameful you don’t know them better, Dork,’ Lily taunted her. Dorcas was a half-blood, her mother being a very well known Spellologist and a powerful one at that. She had learned much of what she knew from her grandfather who, incidentally, was also Dorcas’s grandfather.

‘Please, that nickname will be the death of me, why was I given such a stupid one?’ Dorcas groaned, throwing her head back dramatically. ‘Hey, did you manage to catch the noticeboard for the first Hogsmeade trip? I forgot to check it today.’

‘Yeah, it’s actually the second weekend after Hallowe’en, so not far away! I’m so glad it’s soon, I have been craving a butterbeer like crazy,’ Lily said dreamily as she imagined the warm foamy drink. There was nothing quite like a warm butterbeer on a cold day, the warmth spreading all the way to the tips of the toes.

‘They better get off that pitch, the weather’s not getting any better,’ Dorcas glanced nervously out the window. ‘Also, we should get going, the meeting’s starting in ten.’

The girls packed up their belongings and made their way down to the Great Hall where once a month, the Prefect Meetings were held. The Head Boy and Girl would go over any events that had happened or were to occur over the next month and Prefects could poise any complaints or questions to them. Normally they were quite short, most people simply wanting them over with, but occasionally, there’d be one over-achieving student somewhere with the idea that it was okay to drag them out. Alice soon joined them, and the meeting began.

From the corner of her eye, Lily could see the red hair of Gideon Prewett popping up among the crowd. She felt her cheeks flush slightly, even from just looking at him. He too had grown up over the summer, his long limbs starting to bulk up and his jawline sharpened. Lily couldn’t help but admire how dashing he looked with his Gryffindor tie tied loosely around his neck, the top button undone, and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. She could completely understand the sudden female interest in him this year.

‘You’re staring, Evans,’ Alice muttered in her ear, smirking as Lily’s blush grew deeper at the realisation that she’d been caught.

‘I was just admiring,’ Lily defended herself, unable to prevent her voice from going up an octave.

‘You’re not fooling anyone, darling,’ Alice snorted at Lily’s feeble attempts to pretend she didn’t have a crush. ‘He’s got a pretty face, no one can deny that.’

‘Potter will be heartbroken,’ Dorcas chipped, instantly transforming Lily’s blush to a pale faced scowl, quicker than one could say Quidditch. Chortling, Dorcas put her hands up in a surrender position, grinning.

‘Potter can go snog a Flobberworm,’ she said moodily at the mention of his name.

‘If it was _you_ asking him to, I doubt he’d say no,’ Alice leered, Lily clamping her hands to her ears so she wouldn’t have to listen to her friends jokes anymore.

She had never really understood James Potter’s fascination with her. In Lily’s eyes, she was rather plain, though she had always believed that beauty was in the eye of the beholder. In a way, she secretly thought that James had to be commended simply for his sheer perseverance of her, despite her insistent ridicule and rejection of it. She had to admit she admired it slightly, she only wished that his efforts were projected onto some other girl and not herself.

The meeting soon ended, sadly on a rather anti-climactic note about some rather troublesome third years who had found it funny to team up with Peeves and litter dungbombs around the courtyard, causing an incredibly unpleasant smell. It was especially nasty for those who had classes in Care of Magical Creatures over the next following days, the wind unfortunately dragging the smell down next to the Forbidden Forest where the practical lessons took place. After some debate, the Heads ended it in an unsatisfying manner, saying it wasn’t their jobs to issue what the exact punishment should be, but it would be up to the teacher’s to decide. They had received a fair amount of groans for that verdict.

‘Hey, you three, tell Marlene to meet up with me at some point. I need to return this lipstick to her,’ a blonde, seventh year Ravenclaw came up to the three girls, smiling brightly.

‘Oh, we’re just heading up to our dorm the now, we could give it to her,’ Dorcas offered.

‘Oh, that would be great, but I actually don’t have it with me. I forgot you guys would be here and I just haven’t had the time to catch her. I feel bad, I’ve had it since before summer,’ the blonde continued, pushing her hair out her face.

‘We’ll let her know,’ Alice confirmed, letting the Ravenclaw leave with a smile.

‘How does she just know these people?’ Dorcas questioned as they watched her walk off.

‘No idea, it’s Marls, she could make friends with a Basilisk if she tried hard enough,’ Alice chuckled, thinking back to the time where Marlene had managed to charm even the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin House Ghost. He was notoriously hot-tempered.

‘Her bluntness does betray her, though, as does yours Alice,’ Dorcas laughed, making Alice roll her eyes.

The three of them had just stepped out of the Great Hall when they were interrupted yet again.

‘Hey, Evans, hold up a sec,’ the girls turned round to see Gideon Prewett heading towards them, Lily’s breath instantly hitching in her throat.

‘Hey, Gideon, how’s it hanging,’ Dorcas asked him with an exaggerated smile and irritatingly sweet voice. Lily knew she was trying to rile her up.

‘Hi, I’m good,’ Gideon nodded to Dorcas with a toothy grin. ‘Lily, I heard you’re a bit of a whizz when it comes to Charms, and Flitwick’s told me to find someone to help me out a bit with the Locomotion charm,’ he said brightly.

‘Oh, well in that case, you should ask Ali – _ow!_ ’ Lily yelped as Alice crushed her toes with her foot, with Alice acting as though she had done nothing. Gideon gave them bemused expression.

‘What Lily was _going_ to say is, yes, she will very happily help you out with the work,’ Alice took over for Lily, Gideon’s gaze flickering between them and laughing slightly.

‘Okay, Wednesday then, seven o’clock good for you, Lily?’ he asked, his brow raising with the question in what Lily thought was a swoon worthy way.

‘Yep, sounds perfect,’ she replied giving Alice a side glare before smiling up at the boy in front of her, while simultaneously wishing she could cradle her foot in pain.

‘Boyfriend!’ the voice of Emmeline Vance soared through the air as she threw her arms around the red haired boy who affectionately returned her advance. ‘What are you lot all gossiping about?’ she questioned, turning to look at the girls.

Gideon explained to her how Lily was going to help him Charms, the girls nodding and smiling along somewhat forcibly. Emmeline planted a kiss on his cheek once he’d finished, one manicured hand on his chest.

‘Oh, well that’s wonderful! Of course, I would help him myself, but my talents lie more in Transfiguration, it must be said,’ Emmeline declared. She wasn’t wrong, Emmeline was one of McGonagall’s favourites and did have quite the skill for the class. ‘Thank you for helping him out, Lils.’

‘Anytime,’ Lily replied with a tight lipped smile.

Emmeline and Gideon headed off together, presumable for the Gryffindor Common Room in search of some of the comfy seats.

‘Why would you offer me to go and tutor him, you know I’m not going to try anything with him while he’s going out with Emmeline,’ Lily said, spinning on her heel to face her two dark haired friends who smirked knowingly at each other.

‘Oh, we know that, Lils, don’t be silly,’ Dorcas said, throwing her a wink.

‘We never said that you’d be doing anything that _friends_ wouldn’t do, did we?’ Alice asked suggestively, playing with a strand of her hair.

‘You two are evil,’ Lily scoffed. ‘I’m not going to go after someone’s boyfriend.’

‘But what if someone’s boyfriend wants to go after you?’ Dorcas questioned her, folding her arms.

‘Then I don’t think that person should be a boyfriend,’ Lily replied, shaking her head at the mere idea of it. There is nothing worse a person could do in a relationship than cheat on their partner in her mind.

‘You’re just tutoring him, it’s chill,’ Alice said, finally setting them off into the direction of their dorms. ‘And if he just so happens to realise how brilliant you are during it, then that’s not your fault, that’s just you being you.’ 

Lily scoffed, yet again, at her friends ridiculous ideologies. Never in a million years would she go for a friends boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, first upload of the new schedule and some more fun with the girls :) I hope you all enjoyed, and thank you again, for all your support, it means everything to me.  
> Love, Julia xx


	11. Flare

Sirius Black, for the age of fifteen, a few days away from sixteen, had accumulated a few nasty habits. Some of them he passed on to his friends, his habit of smoking in particular, although _why_ , he wasn’t too sure. He found it relaxing, watching the smoke leave him as he breathed out, disappearing into the night sky.

He was sat, after hours in the Astronomy Tower, struggling to sleep. Sat right by one of the glass-less windows, one leg dangling out, he stared out onto the skyline of the school grounds, a few castle turrets and towers intercepting the view every so often. In the hand that wasn’t occupied with a cigarette, he held a letter, one of the few he received from out with the castle that he liked. It wasn’t filled with stinging insults or intimidating threats. It contained the fact that, somehow, there was some good left in the House of Black.

_Hi Baby Cousin, Hope my face on that tapestry is still looking good. I’ve been told a good burn brings out my eyes, so that portrait must really be doing something for me now. Just as well I’m off it, they stuck a really stupid hat on me._

Sirius laughed at the first sentences, albeit, was slightly annoyed that he was being called a baby cousin. He could hear the cheeky voice of his cousin through the words, the complete and utter disregard for anything his family stood for. The rebellious attitude.

_Little Dora turned her hair purple the other day and I think she’s taken a liking to it as it hasn’t changed on the little rascal unless she’s having a temper tantrum. It goes bright red then, but I’m pretty sure I’ve told you that. She was asking about you the other day, wondering when she could come and see her Uncle Sirius. I told her you’re at school, but she doesn’t seem to be accepting that fact. I wouldn’t be surprised if she showed up at the Gryffindor Common Room on her toy broomstick demanding to see you. If she does, give her a game of Quidditch and then send her back our way. Preferably with a few of those flapjacks Hogwarts serve at dessert sometimes, Merlin knows I miss them._

Sirius recalled back to the summer just gone when he had managed to sneak out of his dreary house on his broomstick and escaped to his cousins house for a few hours where he was greeted by a spunky, little two year old who was manically waving her father’s wand in the air. When she spotted Sirius, she had paused her actions, growing shy and running to hide behind her mum, who immediately engulfed Sirius in a warm hug. Once little Nymphadora’s reservations wore off, Sirius engaged her in a child friendly game of Quidditch on her toy broom, where she zoomed around the living room, eventually knocking over a vase, causing his cousin to chase them, giggling, out into the garden. He took a drag and continued reading.

_The news has reached me, the one where Cissy is engaged to that Malfoy git. Due to be married next summer if any of my sources are correct. I feel conflicted about it, I want her to be happy, but it still feels like she’s a baby. I’m supposed to be there, protecting her, helping her make the right choices, not that she’d listen to me anyway. Neither of them did. It’s still crazy to me that I won’t be there for my own sister’s wedding even if it is an arranged marriage to some pureblood supremacist. Ted and I are doing well, despite all. He was asking about you the other day, to make sure you’re okay. And I hope you are, Sirius, I hope you’re safe and that they’re not getting in your head. Stand your ground, don’t let them take anything away from you. Keep putting yourself first and if you need to get away, my door is always open to you. You’re a strong one, remember that. Don’t ever let those monsters back you into a corner, don’t let them win. Keep Regulus under your wing as well, stick together. I daren’t write to him, just in case, but let him know I’m thinking of him, I always am for both of you._

He stopped reading for a moment, thinking about his brother, about what their relationship had gone to. They hardly spoke in school, mostly acting like the other one didn’t exist, but still came to each other’s rescue when they needed it. But it was cold, almost as though out of obligation. Regulus was far more under his parent’s control than Sirius ever was. He was the golden child, the one that should’ve been Orion and Walburga Black’s first born.

_I’ll send more letters soon, send some back if you have the time. Keep me up to date on how you’re doing. I deserve that from my favourite cousin, don’t you think? All my love, Dromeda_

It was true, Andromeda Tonks was his favourite cousin by a long shot, even if she had been disowned from by family. Especially because she had been disowned by the family.

Andromeda was the middle child of Cygnus and Druella Black. When she fell in love and eventually married Muggle-born Ted Tonks, Andromeda was brutally cut off from her family, disowned and scorched off the Black family tree, her actions as a now recognised blood traitor unforgivable. She had never spoken to her sisters, Bellatrix and Narcissa, again.

Her actions had recently lit a flame in the pit of Sirius’s stomach as he thought about them. Andromeda was wrongly sorted into Slytherin. She had traits running through her that even Gryffindor’s would be envious of, she had fled her house and never looked back, never once undertook the plan her family had set out for her just to be accepted. He admired that greatly.

He dropped the stub of the cigarette to the stone floor of the tower and crushed it with the heel of his boot. He used slightly more force than necessary, taking out some misplaced anger on the Muggle substance. Although it was technically still a while away, he was dreading the train home at Christmas. Not so much the journey, just the final destination.

He couldn’t be arsed dealing with his screaming mother, or his calm father who would fire hexes at anything that moved. He didn’t want to have to go to dinners, sit and converse with people who’s opinions and points of existence were so far distant from his own. He didn’t want to deal with his mother’s glares over the dining table when he could not longer bite his tongue and snap, to be punished for it later.

Giving the panoramic view of the castle grounds one last glance, Sirius tossed the invisibility cloak that he came up with over him and made his way down the long winding steps of the Astronomy Tower, the pack of cigarettes in his pocket tapping against his leg temptingly. He had been smoking more often recently, as his other guilty pleasure, girls, had been off the table for him for a while. Smoking was his way of winding down and relaxing. He couldn’t very well hook up with girls while he had a pretty big mandrake leaf in his mouth. Mainly because he obviously couldn’t allow for the disturbance, but also because he couldn’t come up for a good enough excuse for having a leaf in his mouth and snogging a girl. Not to mention the disgusting taste of it, and mixed with fag smoke, Sirius didn’t think he’d be too pleasant to mould mouths with at the current time. Besides, he knew girls noticed that stuff more than guys.

He climbed into bed only to be woken up what felt like mere seconds later by his best mate, built of messy black hair and circular glasses. He groaned, rubbing his eyes, having never felt more unwilling to get up and start the day in his life. Despite his lack of sleep, the day seemed to moved at a quickened pace for him, as he daydreamed through classes until James shook him awake at the last one.

‘Hey, I was thinking of going to visit Hagrid today, you up for it?’ James asked him with a look of mild concern on his face. ‘Mate, you look really tired, I don’t think you’re sleeping good.’

‘Nah, I’m alright, think Quidditch has just been taking it out of me more than usual,’ Sirius tried to fend of James’s uneasiness, but the spectacled boy wasn’t convinced.

‘Is it something to do with back home?’ James asked, making Sirius’s eyes flash with something so quickly that he wasn’t sure it happened at all. ‘Did they send you a letter or something?’

‘Nope, just Dromeda sent me a letter, told me how Dora was doing, stuff like that,’ Sirius shook his head, trying to give off the sense that everything was okay. But James was cleverer than that when it came to Sirius, he’d seen this act too many a time.

‘And what else did she put in the letter?’ he pushed. Sirius rolled his eyes, dropping his hands from where they had been interlaced at the back of his head.

‘Just some stuff about the family, you know. Nothing much, but she then just went on about how it’s basically my role to protect both myself and Regulus and, I don’t know. It just felt intense for a second,’ Sirius confessed, feeling heavy. He was getting used to sharing his burdens with James, it made them a lot easier to carry. He hadn’t been very good at that, ever, but James had become his brother, his other half. He helped Sirius understand it was okay to share your emotions. No matter how different the two boys’ families were, James always tried his best and did well to understand and take care of Sirius when he was down. It was what brothers were for.

Sirius didn’t need James to speak false sympathy with him, they had understood that about each other from the beginning. He just needed someone to listen and air out to, and James did just that.

‘Come on,’ James said, clapping Sirius on the back. ‘Hagrid’ll make you a huge mug of tea and you can both make fun of me at how I made myself look like a tit in front on Evans again.’

‘Can’t wait to hear how you did that,’ Sirius grinned sarcastically, glad James switched the topic onto himself. Sirius never liked it when he was the central subject of something heavy for too long.

At the twilight hours, the two boys made their way down to the little cabin at the edge of the Forbidden Forest (one of their favourite rule-breaking grounds) in which Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, resided. Hagrid had always been friendly with the boys since first year, especially James. He did his best to keep them out of trouble and stood up for them if he knew for definite they didn’t do something. Hagrid was so friendly with them that he had even defended them to Professor Dumbledore.

James knocked on the door to hear from the other side of it the wild and excited barks of Fang, Hagrid’s large, black, lovable dog that had a tendency to slobber everywhere. The door opened to reveal an overgrown man with a mane of dark, bushy hair, holding back Fang, who was attempting to lunge forward with all his might.

‘‘Ello, boys, was startin’ ter think yeh were never goin’ ter come an’ see me!’ Hagrid exclaimed with delight as the two entered the cabin with wide grins on their faces from their welcome. Hagrid let Fang go and he immediately jumped up on Sirius, covering his robes in slobber, but he didn’t mind.

‘We’ve been struggling with the timing, but of course we were always coming to see you Hagrid!’ James said brightly, shifting his way beside Hagrid’s dining table to grab a seat while Sirius had a friendly battle with Fang to see if he was actually going to be able to make it to a seat.

‘Good, good! I’ve been wantin’ ter show off the pumpkins I’ve been growin’, they’re lit’le beauties now,’ Hagrid beamed up at them, his hand gesturing to one of his windows, where behind the glass, lay an assortment of colourful and huge pumpkins. The boys had to admit, the size of them was rather magnificent. Hagrid had more of a green thumb than a garden gnome.

‘They for the Hallowe’en feast then?’ Sirius asked, finally managing to get past Fang and sit down, though to the untrained eye, it would appear that Sirius’s role was to keep a constant hand on the dog, scratching him behind the ears.

‘Absolu’ley, they’ll make the Great Hall look fantastic, don’ yeh think!’ Hagrid spoke excitedly as he set down a large tray of oversized, polka-dot mugs full of steaming hot tea as well as a plate of rock cakes, which the boys knew from experience to avoid indulging in, no matter how much Hagrid pressed them to take a bite. They would never forget the time that Peter chipped his tooth on an exceptionally hard one.

‘How’s life been treating you, Hagrid?’ James asked, his hands shaking from the weight of the mug as he picked it up. Hagrid made the whole hut shake as he collapsed down into a chair next to them, making James’s struggles unnoticeable.

‘Ah, yeh know, just been doin’ my thing. I was hopin’ you lot would be comin’ down sometime soon as I need teh scold yeh on tha’ prank you pulled in the Greenhouse. ‘Onestly, how did yeh scare a Tentacula to death?’ Hagrid chuckled as he recalled hearing the story from a tiny Professor Flitwick who had stood on a stool at the time so Hagrid could hear him better. Flitwick had never quite become accustomed to the idea that when Hagrid couldn’t hear him, he would simply lift him up and stick him on something to increase his height.

The boys humoured Hagrid in the tale of their Greenhouse spree, making him greatly chuckle at the ferocious McGonagall who came looking for them as a result, her hair visibly greying from their exploits.

‘I’m tellin’ yeh, Dumbledore wouldn’ave cared in the slightest about that, he’s no' too keen on the plants himself. I bet yeh he’s happy to have a few months withou’ them in the school,’ Hagrid chortled. ‘Great man, Dumbledore.’

The rain hammered down on the hut from the outside, the sky dreary and bleak as the fire kept them warm. The watched as the lights in the castle lit up to battle the darkness, dotting the view with yellow, lamp-like stars. They began enthusiastically discussing the first Quidditch match of the year, which coincidentally fell on the same day as Sirius’s birthday. The match was a Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor one, so the boys’ nerves and excitement was heightened at the opportunity to show of their increase in skill from the year before. Both Sirius and James had been picked for the team in their second year, following their extravagant attempts to make their way onto it in first year. One of them included sending an enchanted, singing suit of armour, clad with red roses and chocolates to the team captain, who, after recovering from a fit of hilarity, told the boys they would be his first pick for the team next year. It was then that Sirius and James decided that their charm knew no bounds. 

‘You lads will have no bother beatin’ those Ravenclaws. I’ve seen yeh flyin’ on that pitch an’ there is no’un better, it’s all about the talent, an’ yeh’ve got it!’ Hagrid boosted their egos as he picked up a bottle of brandy and spiked his tea with the liquor. James and Sirius grinned at each other from the action.

‘I just hope this bloody rain let’s up by the time of the Quidditch match, I do not want to be flying and trying not to ram into another player in this weather,’ James grumbled as he stole a glance at the outside world again. He could have sworn the droplets were now the size of tennis balls.

‘No chance are you lot gettin’ out o’ this weather by the Quidditch match,’ Hagrid shook his head. ‘Yeh think this is bad, jus’ wait ‘til the storm arrives.’

‘Storm? There’s going to be a storm?’ Sirius quizzed with interest, snapping his head to Hagrid. He leaned forward, propping his elbows up on the table. Fang had retreated to his bed, his low snores now rumbling the cabin.

‘Of course, this is just a teasing for the thunder to come!’ Hagrid grunted, rolling his eyes at the foreshadowed weather. ‘I can feel it. The air’s electric, there’s go’n be thunder an’ lightin’, a proper playground.’

‘Really? When do you think it’s going to happen?’ James asked expectantly, his curiosity also peaked. Hagrid was too happy to notice the strangeness of their attention.

‘I reckon a couple o’ days after the match, give or take. I don’t think yeh’ll be flyin’ in lightnin’, but don’t worry, it won’t be cancelled,’ Hagrid gurgled, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes.

James and Sirius exchanged meaningful glances. They soon bid Hagrid farewell, to which they received a hearty squeeze of thanks for coming to see them. They threw their cloaks over their heads and battled the wind and wetness of the weather to reach the shelter of the school, by which point they were entirely soaked.

‘There’s going to be a storm. Brilliant,’ James said as he shook himself off, the two quickly hurrying to the dormitory to share the news.

‘So close after a full moon as well, that works out perfectly,’ Sirius added, tossing his head in a feeble attempt to dry it.

‘I’m just praying the clouds let up for that one night of the full moon, Merlin better be nice to us,’ James panted as they ran up a plethora of stairs.

‘If he isn’t, we’ll do the twat in when we get up there,’ Sirius laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I got a few chapters coming up that I am just way too excited about that I might just honestly just post a cheeky lil extra update ahaha ;) either way, keep your comments rolling my people, I adore them and you're all so helpful in making me see things that I haven't before. I credit you all for helping me become a better writer :).  
> Enjoy a little melancholy Sirius Black. The following chapters are longer as well, I promise.  
> Love, Julia xx


	12. Orange is the New Black

Walking into the Great Hall on the thirty-first of October was almost indistinguishable from waking up in Hagrid’s pumpkin patch with a few spooky elements thrown into the mix. If there was ever a definition as to what Hallowe’en was, the Great Hall was it. Hogwarts glorified it.

‘The orange is literally hurting my eyes, _ow_ , how is this even possible?’ Alice sighed, blinking hard as she squeezed her eyes shut to open them wide again. Throughout her dragging complaints, she decided to spread bright orange marmalade on her toast. Marlene scoffed at her in amusement.

‘Orange is the best colour,’ she stated as she swapped the jar in Alice’s hand from marmalade to blackberry jam.

‘You, my friend, are delusional,’ Alice replied to Marlene, waving her butter knife around manically. Dorcas, who was sat next to her, grabbed Alice’s wrist, and took the sharp utensil.

‘Before you take someone’s eye out,’ she declared, making Alice scowl at her. ‘Do not take it personally, you can just be impulsive,’ Dorcas added, patting the top of her head.

‘So, Marls. Quidditch match this Saturday, how you feeling?’ Lily asked, a smile adorning her face. She had clipped her red hair back with bat hairclips which fluttered their wings every once in a while as celebration for the day.

‘Let’s just hope William isn’t required as a sub, ‘cause Merlin knows that would be awkward,’ Dorcas giggled, making Marlene give her an incredulous look.

‘You guys are still on Will? That’s been over for ages,’ Marlene informed them, the girls responding with perplexed frowns.

‘Okay, I honestly can’t keep up with you, when was William done?’ Alice demanded to know as she dropped her toast and stared at Marlene. Marlene scoffed at the reaction.

‘Oh, I don’t even know, but he got boring. I need someone with more excitement. Besides, at the minute, if I’m not in class or eating, I’m at Quidditch, no point in trying anything the now,’ she replied amicably as she dolloped some golden syrup on her porridge.

‘I never thought I’d see the day where Marlene McKinnon would have a priority other than boys,’ Lily mocked her, which resulted in a deep, glowering look on the blonde’s face.

‘I do love it when we all slut-shame, it’s one of my _favourite_ hobbies,’ Marlene said sarcastically, making the girls giggle.

‘It must be said, Miss McKinnon, that skirt is incredibly short,’ Alice imitated McGonagall, pretending to peer down at her blonde friend through imaginary glasses. Marlene pushed her shoulder.

‘I’ll come in wearing nothing but a belt tomorrow, that’ll make some heads turn,’ Marlene replied in a bored tone while the rest of them grinned.

‘Now that _would_ be sexy, where do we show up for the big show?’ the voice of Sirius Black invaded Marlene’s ears as she felt the bench jump slightly from Sirius and Remus sliding up next to them at the table. It was quite late in the morning, so by now, it was sparsely occupied, allowing for fluid movement.

‘I wouldn’t bet on your chances on getting anywhere with it, even if I did,’ Marlene bit back, matching the smirk Sirius had on his face. Sirius scoffed.

‘I could get it if I wanted,’ he grinned, tapping his foot on the stone floor. Marlene rolled her eyes at his declaration.

‘Black, I have heels higher than your standards,’ Marlene said, standing up and tossing her book back over her shoulder. ‘No you couldn’t,’ and with a wink, she strutted off.

They watched her as she disappeared through the grand doors of the Great Hall after she fired her shot before turning back round to Sirius in amusement.

‘You ever going to give up trying to tap that?’ Lily asked crudely, one of her bat clips fluttering in excitement at her words.

‘The day you say yes to James. Maybe.’

Lily’s dosage of James Potter grief wasn’t over with just that morning. Later on, in Herbology, Professor Sprout had decided to pair the class up for some practical work. It wasn’t so much as she wanted to, as she simply didn’t trust the four mischief makers in her class pairing up together, so she stuck them with some people she deemed sensible. While James was delighted, Lily could not have thought of a worse time to be paired with an over-excited James Potter, just days before a Quidditch match.

‘Come on! How could you not find these little guys hilarious!’ James exclaimed as he watched a Flobberworm crawl up his finger, Lily sighing in dismay at his behaviour. They were supposed to be extracting the slime of the Flobberworm’s as fertiliser for certain plants in the Greenhouse, but James was more interested in playing with the small, ticklish creatures. Not to mention he was brandishing the scalpel, much like Alice was this morning, and had nearly removed Mary Macdonald’s eyeball from her socket.

‘Potter, I swear to God, if you don’t stop waving that knife about, I will steal it and stab it in your own eye, show you how it feels,’ Lily fumed, stealing a glance at Mary, who still looked a little shaken from the near encounter. James grinned his usual irritating grin at the red head.

‘I think I’d be more worried handing you the knife than I would be keeping it myself, Evans,’ James said humorously as he placed the knife one, the Flobberworm now perched on his shoulder. ‘You would really make it a spooky Hallowe’en.’

‘Don’t be surprised if you wake up tomorrow morning as a ghost,’ Lily muttered as she grabbed the Flobberworm off James’s shoulder. He chuckled at her action, rather proud of himself that he was the only one who could rile her up so well.

‘So, Evans, there’s a little Hogsmeade weekend coming up, did you know,’ James asked suggestively, putting his arm around her shoulder which she immediately shrugged off. He could hear Remus’s sniggers in the background.

‘Yes, I did, toerag. I do not live under a rock,’ Lily sighed. She would have preferred if they could have got on with the task at hand wordlessly as she could already see the end of the conversation from miles away.

‘Well, I was wondering –’

‘No.’

‘But you didn’t let me fini-’

‘No.’

‘Oh, c’mon, yo-’

‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no,’ Lily put firmly, not even looking up at the messy haired boy who stare was clearly burning into the side of here face. She refused to give him the satisfaction of returning it.

‘Really? Nine “no’s,” really? _Really?_ ’ James asked, in such a tone of disbelief that Lily almost believed him if not for the smirk she could she that curved the shape of his lips from the side of her eye. 

‘ _No._ Now what could she mean, when she says “no”,’ Dorcas spoke cynically as she walked over to the table where Lily and James were working, he expression a picture of mock wonder. ‘Well, _I_ don’t know, it’s totally cryptic.’

‘Anything you want, Meadowes?’ James questioned her with a grimace as she leaned on the table they were working at with her hands.

‘Nope, just thought it would be funny to witness the teardown and humiliation of another rejection,’ she smiled sweetly while winking at James. ‘Also, I owe Lily two galleons. We had a bet that you would ask Lily out today and I lost,’ Dorcas added, dropping two gold coins into Lily’s open palm.

‘Wow, you guys bet on me! Which bet were you?’ James asked Lily, far more excited than any man should have been for being the focus of such a bet.

‘I bet that you would ask me out keep up,’ Lily replied to him reluctantly, watching as his already present smile grew further.

‘Evans, are you trying to tell me something here?’ James teased her, making Dorcas scoff and leave them alone, allowing Lily to deal with the carnage.

‘Yes, that you’re very predictable,’ Lily responded and left him to collect another bowl from the top of the class for the slime collected.

James took his time alone to look up into the sky and observe the weather. It was a strangely clear sky for the past few weeks they’d been having, but he refused to complain. It was almost as if there was some air of magic up in the sky keeping it clear for them the one day they needed it. It was the night of another full moon, Remus using his best efforts to look and keep alive, despite his night of transformation. For the other boys, it was more a night of relief.

For a month, they had done well in keeping a Mandrake leaf in their mouth, undisturbed, the hourglass dropping its last few red beads into the pool below. It had been a rough month for them with a number of choking cases and many questions as to why they were talking strangely. Professor Slughorn at one point thought Peter had taken the initiative to eat a potion ingredient and demanded that he spit it out. Peter, nerves building under the pressure of his excuses, had eventually simply bolted out of the classroom, leaving a completely bewildered Slughorn. He didn’t return for the rest of the lesson.

Lily found the rest of her day rather relaxing, her final class of the day in Muggle Studies allowing her to sail through, as most of the knowledge she already knew. It allowed her brain to think freely about what she was incapable of getting out of her head; her evening of tutoring with Gideon Prewett. It had been occupying her head more and more as the day drew closer and this evening was when it would finally occur. She had no plans at all of getting into his head, she would never do that to Emmeline. Quite frankly, they all knew that Emmeline could perform a rather mean Knee-Reversal hex, which she did not want to be on the other end of. But there was no harm in becoming better friends with him.

The Hallowe’en feast was spectacular this year. Dumbledore had pulled out all the stops, with performances by dancing skeletons and the Frog Choir. There were bats flying about which would sit atop students heads and if fed a piece of chicken, would perform all sorts of tricks above their heads while showering them with black and orange confetti that seemed to erupt from their wings. Peeves even snuck his way into the hall and dropped a carved pumpkin onto Dumbledore’s head which made the elderly Headmaster squeal with delight.

The food ranged from pies, to a number of cooked birds, around twenty different styles of potatoes, apples shaped like pumpkins, ice cream sundaes, Fizzing Whizbees along with a wide range of wizarding trick or treat sweets. Hallowe’en was certainly one of the most marvellous spectacles that Hogwarts celebrated.

The night for most, after the feast was over, with nothing more to do other than put their feet up and fall asleep into dreams filled with leprechauns dressed up as devils, posing as stand-up comedians and glitter in their hair. Lily, however, at ten to seven sharp, picked up her Charms book after changing into a striped woollen jumper and flared blue jeans, made her way to the Library to offer her academic help to a very cute and sweet boy.

She found a spot at the back of the Library where it would be unlikely that Madam Pince, the strictest librarian in the world in Lily’s opinions, would be able to hear them discussing the various aspects of the work they were about to embark on. Lily was good at Charms, better than good, thought she’d have to say potions was her strongest subject. She sat for five minutes, rereading the notes, and checking the brown, leather strapped watch on her wrist like a nervous tick, watching as the minutes counted down to seven.

At two minutes past seven, she saw the red hair of Gideon appear around a corner, his face inquisitive as he looked for her. His face broke out into a smile when he did and quickly walked over to her, taking the seat next to her.

‘Sorry I’m a bit late, I just had to get changed. I didn’t want to stay in robes for that long,’ he told her brightly as he started pulling out his books as well as some parchment and a wand.

‘Oh, don’t be silly, you’re not late at all!’ she replied, more shrilly than she’d meant to and she cringed at her pitch. Quickly getting over it, she admired his outfit of a loose purple sweatshirt and, like her, blue bellbottoms. The purple made his blue eyes stand out as well as accentuated his hair. She realised she was staring when his eyes met her greens ones and she quickly glanced down.

‘So, Prof, teach me all you know,’ he said casually, yet playfully as he leaned back in his chair and expertly flipped his wand around his fingers. Lily appreciated his laid-back attitude as it made her feel less nervous and more in control, which she liked. She hated losing it.

‘Right, can you tell me the three basic objectives of a Locomotion charm?’ she asked with a smile.

The hour passed quickly, and buy the end of it, Gideon was moving books around the Library with ease like it was nobodies business. Lily, although extremely delighted with the progress they had made, couldn’t stop the small harbouring feeling of sadness inside her as she realised that Gideon wouldn’t need her help anymore now that he’d mastered the charm.

‘Oh, thank Merlin!’ Gideon laughed as he was able to move five books of the same genre at the same time and place them in the bookshelf. ‘You’ve worked wonders here, Lily.’

‘Oh, please, you did the core of the work. You’ll be doing this charm wordlessly before you know it,’ Lily cheered him on, getting a comically sceptical look in response.

‘Now, now, let’s no get ahead of ourselves,’ he scoffed, but grinned at her. ‘I can’t thank you enough Lily, truly, you’ve saved me so many hours of extra work.’

Lily smiled back at him as she began to pack her stuff away, her smile dropping slowly as she did so, the realisation that another hour like this wouldn’t be needed for him. Gideon wasn’t an idiot and noticed the shift in attitude almost instantly.

‘Hey, what’s up?’

Lily looked up at him, surprised by the question. ‘Oh, nothing, just got some stuff on my mind.’

‘You want to talk about it?’ Gideon asked kindly, propping himself on the desk that they were working at, folding his arms. Lily shook her head.

‘No, it’s just, well – have you ever fancied someone you know you shouldn’t?’

The words came tumbling out of Lily’s mouth before she could stop or think to process them, much to her horror and astonishment. Gideon tilted his head, as thought in thought. She swooned slightly at the action. The mature sixteen year old was really visible in him.

‘That you shouldn’t?’ he questioned, goading Lily to elaborate.

‘Like, it would go against girl code, or, I guess bro code, in your case,’ she tried to explain. She realised how nervous she was. She only used the word “like” in that way when she was anxious.

Gideon looked thoughtful as he pondered, probably for only a few seconds but to Lily it felt like years were passing as she watched the tall, redheaded boy think over her question.

‘I don’t think I have, no. Why you asking?’

‘Oh, it’s just for a friend, she wasn’t sure. And I just wanted a second opinion before I tell her what I think.’

‘What do you think?’

‘That’s the problem, I don’t really know how to go about this,’ Lily replied, feeling herself grow shyer as the conversation wore on. She felt as though Gideon was peering into her soul with his piercing gaze.

‘I guess, she’d just need to be honest with both the girl and the guy. Tell them how she feels and not leave anyone in the dark about anything. The last thing you want is for anyone to feel betrayed. It’s a tricky one. Liking someone in that sort of scenario is never easy,’ Gideon spoke wisely, causing butterflies to arise in her stomach.

‘Yeah. That makes sense. Thanks,’ she said gratefully as he gathered up the last of his belongings.

‘Anytime. And hey, if I ever need anymore help in Charms, I know who I’m calling,’ he said cheekily, throwing Lily a wink, spreading a feeling of warmth throughout her.

As they walked back to Gryffindor Tower together, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest stood three teenage boys, each holding a small glass phial. The moonlight shone down on them, highlighting their faces as they all stood in a circle, anxious faces towards each other.

Ensuring the crystal phials were all touched by the light of the moon, each of the boys spat out the leaf into the phial, a feeling of satisfaction flowing over them as they no longer had to contain the foul thing in their mouths anymore. They no longer had to worry about accidentally choking on it or spitting it out and Sirius was free to go and snog any girl he now wanted, Merlin knew he was having withdrawals from it.

Next, each of the boys yanked a small hair from each of their heads which joined the soaked Mandrake leaf in the phial. An exact teaspoon of dew was added by each of them and to top it off, the chrysalis of a Death’s-head Hawk Moth. They then put the cap on each one of their crystal phials, chucked the invisibility cloak over the three of them and slowly made their way back up to the castle, careful not to trip over each other from the close proximity.

They had made their way to the scarlet clad dormitory wordlessly. Once they’d entered the room, the invisibility cloak came flying off them and each of them leapt to their bedside table to store the phial in the cool darkness of them. Now, all there was left to do was to wait for a storm to arise. Hearts beating faster than usual, the boys threw their curtains around their individual beds for a restless sleep.

Atop a hill in a rickety shack, howled a werewolf, painfully, unaware of anything but the pain he was feeling at that moment in time. He forgot that next month was going to be easier, that he’d have company. He’d no longer be alone on the long, stretched out nights of his transformations. He had no idea that he’d never be more grateful for anything in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got nostalgic for Hallowe'en writing this, so I got myself some fun-size Haribos :) I missed put on it last year as my parents took me on holiday, but it was incredible spending Hallowe'en in Barcelona. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	13. Birthdays and Broomsticks

‘Well, I can finally get married today,’ were the first words Sirius spoke as he woke up on the morning of his birthday as a fresh faced sixteen year old, ready to take on the Scottish law. The words were met with a series of disbelieving scoffs.

‘The day you get married is the day I eat my own head,’ Remus spoke sarcastically as he yawned and stretched in the vicinity of his bed. ‘At least you’re not fucking girls illegally now.’

‘I doubt you could find a girl to take you on anyway, she’d be mental,’ Peter chortled at his own joke as he made way to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Sirius acted out that he was stabbed in the heart from their cruel, cold words.

‘Leave the dramatics for later, we got a Quidditch match today, then you can die,’ James teased shoving Sirius off his bed, so he landed on the floor with a thud.

‘Man. This was supposed to be my special day,’ Sirius said profoundly, making the boys roll their eyes.

‘Come on, sweetheart, knock a few Ravenclaw's off their brooms and we’ll give you the party of the century,’ James teased, patting his best mate on the shoulder before pointing to the end of his bed. ‘By the way, your presents are there, have fun, you old man.’

Sirius leaped like a six year old at Christmas back onto the bed and placed his gifts in front of them, there being five in total. Hagrid had sent Sirius a considerable stack of his famous rock cakes and a rather nifty penknife, with the ability to unlock any lock, probably one of the gifts McGonagall would quickly like to confiscate from him. Peter gave him a generous amount of iced mice, one of Sirius’s favourite sweets, along with _The Beaters’ Bible_ by Brutus Scrimgeour which Sirius had wanted for a very long time. Remus had supplied him with the usual bounty of chocolate frogs and a selection of vinyl’s which Sirius fawned over when he opened them. Sirius loved all Muggle things, which served some factor in sending his parents into wild rages, but he thought nothing could beat the sound of Muggle music, with most wizarding artists being stuck behind the times. The next present was from James, a rather bulky one, which he opened to find a black leather case with silver lettering spelling out _Broomstick Servicing Kit_. It was certainly one of the coolest gifts he’d ever received.

He came onto the last present, completely unsure of who it could be from. He opened it to reveal a rolled up poster of the Beatles, but magic had been used to show them grinning back at him. A small note fell out into his lap.

_Have a good one. Happy sixteenth,_

_Regulus_

A small smile formed on the rebellious boys mouth. He hadn’t expected anything from his brother, especially something which so openly embraced Muggle culture. He wondered where he had bought it and how he managed to sneak it past the Niffler that was Walburga Black, but he greatly appreciated the effort. He made a mental note to start thinking of a present to send Regulus in April.

Sirius wasn’t expecting much for his birthday, so to receive that calibre of presents astounded him to an extent, making him truly appreciate the kinds of friends he had. So long as he didn’t have to spend the day with his parents, he was golden. Every year, he thanked Merlin that his birthday was during the school term.

‘Come on, get those Quidditch robes on, we celebrate later!’ James urged him, tossing the scarlet robes over his head. Sirius laughed and clad himself in the clothes, shoved on some shoes, joining the boys on their walk to breakfast.

‘On this plus side, we’re one match closer to getting rid of Rumsfeld and his ungodly wake up calls,’ Sirius joked as they rushed out of Gryffindor Tower.

Sirius’s words held more jest than truth on how the team felt about the Captain. Rumsfeld was a truly great one, with fascinating and innovative ideas and they had managed to win the Quidditch House Cup for the past three years with him in his role. He pushed them and made them work hard, but the one thing they were all sick of at this point were the early mornings. They truly were the work of the dark arts.

They entered the buzz of the Great Hall where the excitement and ecstasy of the first Quidditch match of the year could be felt. Before Sirius had the chance to sit down, he was somewhat attacked into a hug by two brown haired girls, forcing him to take a few steps back and balance himself from the impact.

‘Happy birthday!’ Dorcas and Alice delightfully squealed, making him do a double take as a grin broke out onto his face.

‘This is for you!’ Dorcas presented him with a large hamper full of confectionery, as well as a few added amusements, such as nose-biting teacups and dungbombs to assist him in his pranking ways.

‘Merlin, guys, thanks,’ he said, still slightly baffled at his welcome as he took the neatly wrapped present, no doubt being the work of Lily Evans.

‘It’s a present from us four. Good luck today!’ Alice wished him gleefully before the girls returned to their seats. Sirius threw them a “Cheers” as they left, the boys finding their own place to sit in the busy dining place.

‘I swear to Merlin, if they don’t greet me on my birthday like that,’ James trailed of dreamily as he looked outside the window to see the weather. Despite the clear skies they had on the night of the full moon, the weather was back to being dreary and rainy, the candles being the only thing brightening up the Hall as the enchanted ceiling rumbled with clouds.

Remus slapped James upside the head for his comment. ‘Not that I want you to go into a Quidditch match with brain damage, but shut up and eat your toast,’ Remus grinned.

‘I hope your birthday is going to bring us some luck,’ Marlene announced herself as she slipped into the spot next to Sirius, grinning as her Quidditch robes sparkled in the candlelight. The gold trimmings went beautifully with her blonde hair, her Quidditch uniform being one of Sirius’s favourite looks on her.

‘Well, that’s one way to wish a man a happy birthday,’ Sirius teased as he bumped shoulder with her, his usual smirk on his face. Marlene snorted.

‘ _Man_ ,’ she laughed to herself, patting Sirius’s head out of sympathy. ‘Maybe one day, Black.’

‘Cold. Was there something you wanted, McKinnon?’ Sirius asked as his face broke out into a grin. Marlene nodded enthusiastically, perching her elbow on his shoulder.

‘If we win the match, I’ll buy you a celebratory butterbeer at the Broomsticks next week,’ Marlene bargained, her excitement for the day radiating.

‘You better catch the Snitch, then, I can only knock out so many Ravenclaw's,’ Sirius negotiated, raising a brow at her suggestively.

‘I have an affinity with the Snitch you know that.’

‘Make it a Wizard’s Brew,’ Sirius stated, recalling his favourite beer.

‘Deal,’ Marlene grinned, and they shook hands on the final settlement.

As Sirius reached to grab himself another piece of toast, he was viciously cut off by the sudden rough landing of a large, grey, and incredibly ruffled owl that was carrying a thin object. Cereal was still falling from the sky what seemed like minutes later.

‘Gilly!’ James exclaimed as the owl fluttered feebly to perch next to him and started gulping down pumpkin juice from James’s goblet as his owner attempted to flatten his feathers. Gilly was the Potter’s family owl, a strong one at that, especially for flying in the current weather.

‘Merlin’s beard,’ Peter sighed as he turned his head to the side to read who the package was addressed for. ‘Sirius, it’s for you.’

Sirius’s forehead creased as he leaned over to read the name that was scrawled on the side of the package which also had a letter, albeit a very wet one, attached to the side of it.

‘James, why have your parents sent me something?’ Sirius asked curiously, the confusion evident on his face. He looked up to see James trying – and failing – to cover up his excitement.

‘Well go on, open it!’ James exclaimed, jumping in his seat like a toddler as though it was his own birthday. Sirius reached for the letter and ripped it open as carefully as he could to reveal a somewhat sodden birthday card with a dancing wizard on the card. When he opened it, a high-pitched, sped up version of the _Happy Birthday_ song sang. By now a small crowd of people were looking over to see what all the commotion was about.

_Happy Birthday Sirius!_

_Congratulations on making it to sixteen, although I’m sure many people are astounded at how this has happened with what you four get up to. Unfortunately, we’re not too sure about the legalities of owning a motorbike at Hogwarts, so perhaps we’ll save that for your seventeenth birthday. Until then, we hope Gilly managed to deliver this in one piece (the poor sod), and that you have a wonderful birthday without the boys all bullying you too much. Just tell them to respect their elders if that’s the case. Good luck with the Quidditch match today and we hope this little gift will give you the boost to go out and win._

_Lots of love,_

_Monty and Mia_

_P.S. Tell James to carry on behaving himself._

‘You hear that, _respect_ your elders,’ Sirius emphasised, showing the boys and Marlene the card. Remus rolled his eyes.

‘Just open the damn gift already, you git,’ Remus grinned, leaning on his elbows as he over watched the scene.

Sirius, his hands shaking slightly, started to gently unwrap the present from its brown paper packaging to reveal smooth, shiny wooden handle of a broom, the twigs at the end of it perfectly clipped, shaped, and shaven. It had gold lettering on one side of the handle, the carved words of _Nimbus 1500_ and on the other side was the custom-carved name of _Sirius Orion Black_.

Sirius whispered a small profanity of amazement to himself. He stroked the beauty that was the top-of-the-range broomstick, James’s present to him now making sense. He lifted his head up to look at his best friend, who was almost falling off his chair in exhilaration.

‘A _little_ gift,’ Sirius quoted the letter in astonishment as he held the broom in his hands. ‘Potter, what the _fuck_ are your parents, I can’t accept this!’

‘Oh yes you can, and you will! And you best believe that Fleamont and Euphemia will not stand for it to be returned,’ James spoke stubbornly as onlookers gasped in awe and jealousy.

‘James, I … what the _fuck_ ,’ Sirius laughed and attacked his best friend with a hug. He didn’t understand how he deserved to have such wonderful people in his life.

For the rest of breakfast, countless girls came up to wish Sirius a happy birthday and pretend to show interest and admiration in his new _Nimbus_ while many guys also came up for the same reason, desperate to just be in the presence of such a masterpiece. Sirius flaunted in the attention, being careful as to who he let touch his new gift.

‘Right lads – and lass, sorry Marlene – we win this match, and not only do we get off to an amazing sporting year, but we make Sirius’s birthday that much better, don’t we lad!’ Rumsfeld said abrasively in his Irish accent, slapping Sirius on the back and knocking the wind out of him, the action causing James to stifle his laughter.

‘Y-yep,’ Sirius struggled to say as he breathed in a large gulp of air in attempt to get his lungs working again. Sirius wasn’t small, he had grown greatly over the summer and was no longer the lanky fourth year he was the year before. Next to Rumsfeld, however, anyone looked like a midget.

‘Good! Now let’s win this thing!’ Rumsfeld yelled intensely, once again clapping Sirius on the back, which at this point, send James into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

As they stood under the stands, waiting to be announced and head out onto the pitch, Sirius felt a nudge to his arm.

‘You better win this thing now, Black, no excuses with that new broom,’ Marlene whispered up to him as her eyes darted down to admire the new broom.

‘If you help me out, I’ll let you have a fly,’ he haggled, smirking.

‘I want that in writing,’ Marlene chuckled.

As soon as the match started, it became more intense than anyone could have thought. The Gryffindor Keeper, Matt Fleetwood, left with a broken arm and Sirius bashed the head in of a Ravenclaw Chaser so hard that from what they heard, the poor bloke was stuck in the Hospital Wing with a concussion for five days. The battering and lowered vision they were receiving from the weather wasn’t helping either and Marlene was very much struggling to locate the Golden Snitch.

James, Lewis Fortescue, and Edward Tate had managed to create a seventy point lead above Ravenclaw, standing on one hundred and twenty points, while Ravenclaw were at fifty points. The Gryffindor Chasers were moving as fast as their brooms would allow them to in desperate attempts to keep possession of the Quaffle, the icy rain feeling like knives against their faces. Marlene kept up her tactic of making sudden movements and keeping high above the game so she could keep as wide a span as possible of the pitch. She tried to locate the Ravenclaw Seeker, but it was impossible. Everything was a blur of blue and red.

Then, in amidst of all the commotion, Marlene spotted a flicker of gold in the corner of her eye near the top of one of the stands. The Gryffindor stands started going crazy as she dived, following the barely visible gold speck with silver wings. James seized the opportunity of momentary distraction to knock the Quaffle out of a Ravenclaw Chaser’s hand and catch it, speeding off to the goals. He scored yet another goal, making the Gryffindor stands grow even wilder.

Marlene could feel the Ravenclaw Seeker gaining on her as she made her way around the pitch, hunting the Snitch. She lay flat against her broomstick to increase her speed when she heard a loud thump from behind her, her senses on an all-time alert. She looked behind her quickly to see that the Ravenclaw Seeker had been knocked wildly off course and Sirius dangling in the air, clearly having whacked a Bludger at him. Marlene grinned as she reached out her hand, the wings of the Snitch tickling her fingers as the two Gryffindor Beaters spotted her, protecting her from interference.

In the seconds that felt like hours to her, she curled her fingers around the little gold ball that one them the match, corkscrewing on her broom as she clutched it close to her chest. Once she’d found her balance she sat up straight, displaying the Snitch proudly above her head.

She flew down to the grass of the pitch where the rest of the team lunged towards her, tackling her into a massive group hug full of cold damp bodies. Marlene felt small while simultaneously very tall as she was surrounded by so many skyscraper boys before they lifted her up over their heads in joy, celebrating their victory. Lily, Alice, and Dorcas had sped their way down to the pitch, Alice also catching her brother, Lewis, into a hug, rejoicing with the team. They lunged at Marlene once her toes touched the ground again, the four of them ending up on the floor in a puddle of happiness. With a lead of two hundred and eighty points to fifty, it was truly a remarkable match.

‘Party, tonight, we don’t stop ‘til dawn!’ James bellowed as the team made their way to the changing room, sweaty and ecstatic. Gryffindor was notorious for their raging parties, with everyone wanting an invite if they could get one. How there always managed to be alcohol at all of them was a mystery to most.

‘Hey, Black, fucking fantastic hit on that Ravenclaw Seeker, that’s the best move I’ve seen in a while,’ Rumsfeld congratulated Sirius on his moves as he made his way into the shower.

‘Cheers,’ Sirius called as he stepped into the warmth of the water that he greatly needed after the freezing cold game. Quidditch always gave him such a rush, and mixed with his birthday, he couldn’t think of anything better he could have wished for on his birthday.

Soon, both Sirius and James were showered, dressed and, most importantly, warm again. As the excitement and buzz grew for the Gryffindor party in the evening, they escaped it all and made their way to the third floor of the castle. The came face to face with the one-eyed witch statue of Gunhilda of Gorsemoor. James leaned in close to the stone.

_‘Dissendium,_ ’ he whispered, and the statue creaked to the side, providing the two boys a slim entrance into a long dark passageway. This passageway lead the boys to the cellar of Honeyduke’s in Hogsmeade – and was the secret of much of their success.

Creeping out of the sweet shop to ensure that they weren’t seen, they reached the main street of the small village and ran as quickly as their legs would carry the to The Quill Tavern, a tiny pub on the outskirts of Hogsmeade which the four Marauders had become very well acquainted with. The owner, Heron Silverling, was very fond of them and was the one who supplied the infamous Gryffindor parties with the booze they required.

‘I knew you’d be round at some point, I heard about your win,’ Heron chuckled as a bell rang to announce the entrance of the two dark haired boys into the pub. They grinned back, taking their hoods off to see Heron cleaning glasses.

The pub was empty, but Heron liked his cosy, uninterrupted life. He was still fairly young with a head of light brown hair and a boyish smile. The four boys reminded him of himself at their age at Hogwarts and he always enjoyed their company very much when they were down. He especially got along with Sirius very well as he too, had escaped from a pureblood elitist family and had settled in Hogsmeade, where he had always felt safe.

‘Hey Heron. Mad weather but it was brilliant. How you been holding up?’ James asked as they settled up on two barstools, Heron already pouring them drinks. He set down two foaming mugs of butterbeer in front of them, aware of the biting winds outside.

‘I’m doing good, been reading a few good books,’ Heron replied. ‘So what are you boys looking for and how much of a discount do you want?’ he smirked at them.

‘Your finest beers and Firewhisky, as usual,’ Sirius beamed to him. ‘And maybe about, forty percent off, if you’d be so kind,’ he added, causing Heron to boom out a laugh.

‘You lot are lucky I like you. Gryffindor party?’ he asked, pulling out a box of what the boys wanted. He always had one stored under the counter ready for whenever they would come round.

‘You know it. We could sneak you into the castle, you know, come and join us,’ Sirius offered as James pulled out a pouch of coins, nodding his head in agreement to Sirius’s proposition.

Heron shook his head in amusement. ‘It’s awfully nice of you boys, but I reckon my school partying days are over. I’m heading down to London for a friends birthday tonight anyway, so I’m closing up early. It’s ten galleons and 7 sickles by the way.’

‘Will you be here next weekend at least, we’ve got a Hogsmeade one?’ James asked him as he handed over the coins, causing Heron to smirk.

‘You know I will. Not like that’s ever stopped you anyway,’ he chuckled, remembering the time he had a closed sign on the door because he was ill, and the boys came in to surprise him with soup and cakes from the Hogwarts kitchen.

Sirius and James made their way back up to the castle where in the Gryffindor Common Room, the party was almost fully set up, with snacks on every table, the gramophone playing some wizarding tunes already. If there was one thing Gryffindor could do well, it was throw a party. There were _Congratulations Gryffindor_ banners hanging from the walls and a collection of _Dr Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks_ in a corner of the room ready for people to set off.

The two boys spiked the bowl of red punch with some Firewhisky and set up the beer bottles on the table, plastic cups littered everywhere. They tended to do this part in secret as they didn’t want people to know where and how they got their supplies. They’d be raided with orders if it got out and they like having The Quill Tavern as they’re little hiding spot.

Before long, the party was in full swing, the music bouncing of the walls and a plethora of teenagers varying from sober to tipsy to drunk were scattered around the place. Rumsfeld had let his hair down and was dancing up and on one of the tables, though whether it was because he was happy from winning the match or simply overjoyed that he hadn’t drowned on the pitch, people had no idea by this point.

Sirius was sat in the couch, a man of glory with a beer bottle in his hand and two girls under each of his arms as he retold the story of the game to a group of Gryffindors (also mainly girls) from his perspective, undeniably embellishing a few facts. He was in the lovely stage between tipsy and drunk where he had just the right amount of his conscience left to not do anything stupid, but happy enough to not give a care in the world.

He didn’t notice Marlene coming over to him, with a silver gift bag in hand, until she tapped him on the shoulder, making his head turn around to see her. She smiled down at him and he drank he in. She was wearing a red, flared, strappy jumpsuit, showing off her collarbone, her blonde hair curled and swept over in a side parting. He swallowed.

‘Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?’ she asked, leaning in close to his ear so he could hear over the music.

He nodded. ‘Sure, of course.’

He stood up, earning moans of complaint from the girls, to which he smirked and confirmed that he would be right back. Taking a swig of his beer he followed Marlene to a quieter corner of the party, near the staircase to the dormitories. She smiled as he approached her, copying her position in leaning against the wall.

‘‘Ello,’ he slurred slightly, his eyes bright towards her. She smirked back.

‘Hey, idiot, I didn’t want to give you this before game –’

‘You got me a _present_ , McKinnon?’

‘- because it would boost your ego too much,’ Marlene scoffed mockingly, handing him the sizable gift bag. Sirius put down his beer bottle and took the bag from her, raising his eyebrow to her. She crossed her arms, waiting for him to stop teasing her with the suspense.

Sirius opened the bag to pull out the most beautiful black leather jacket he’d ever seen. It was complete with silver embellishments that gleamed in the light of the party. Sirius was silent, purely admiring it.

‘The silver is Goblin-wrought,’ Marlene started to ramble, a nervousness settling in from the dark-haired boys’ silence. ‘The actual jacket is a Muggle make, but I thought the Goblin silver made it more special.’

‘Fuckin’ hell, Marley,’ Sirius finally breathed out in awe to look into her midnight blue eyes and saw the nervousness in them. At the sight of his amazement, he watched her relax. He had never seen her anxious like that before.

‘You’ve wanted one for ages, and it’s you sixteenth, so I just wanted to get you a proper special one. You can wear it to your wedding,’ she said playfully with a wink, making Sirius grin.

‘Thank you so much, it’s incredible,’ Sirius whispered in her ear as he pulled her into a hug. He towered over her now, even when she was wearing heels. He knew she’d pretend to be annoyed by that.

‘You deserve it,’ she replied, pulling away from the hug. ‘Happy birthday,’ she added, her eyes sparkling, and she left him to go join Dorcas at the other end of the room.

Sirius watched her walk away, feeling the leather under his fingertips, and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes darted to James irritating Lily from the other side of the room, to Emmeline sat in Gideon’s lap, her face in his neck, to Alice sat with her brother, Edward Tate, and Frank. They eventually landed back on Marlene. He smirked as he looked down at the jacket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not going to lie, kind of fangirling over my own characters and I'm here for it :) ahaha  
> Love, Julia xx


	14. Beswitched

Yellow lightning struck in the distance. Four dark figures ran towards the Forbidden Forest as thunder clapped across the ground, perhaps seeking shelter in the trees, perhaps looking for something. Perhaps running from something. They disappeared into nature’s shelter, into the darkness of the night, robes billowing in the wind.

From her chambers, up in the castle, Lola Sallow sat alone. She was nursing a glass of ice cold scotch, the Muggle kind, and her favourite. She didn’t care for the burn of wizarding whiskey. Dressed in a silky black dressing gown, her black hair unusually down and wavy. She observed the hooded figures as they disappeared from her window, a soft cushion supporting her back as she sat on the ledge. She smirked.

She sat the drink down with a clunk. Gracefully, she made her way across her chambers and sat down at the small desk she kept in her room, her owl perched upon the small lamp that held its place there. She didn’t appear to have any motive to be sat where she was. There was an oddly calm presence about her, as though she knew something others didn’t. But there was no one with her.

She flicked her wand silently and the doors to her chambers unlocked. She made no move to get up and leave, but rather, with another silent spell, she summoned her small wheeled bar over to her and poured herself another drink in a new glass. The house elves would clean it up later.

The doorknob to her chambers suddenly rattled, alerting her that someone was wanting inside. Her eyes now narrowed towards the doors, waiting for them to enter. Frankly, she was surprised this visit was occurring. She was interested to see how they’d managed to enter the castle.

A very young woman, couldn’t have been over the age of twenty one, entered the chambers, her features badly concealing her uneasiness. She had platinum blonde, almost white hair, that covered her scalp, dark green robes, and a large crystal that danced on her left hand, blinding to the eye. Her pale blue eyes landed Sallow, and a look of relief washed over her. Sallow clenched her jaw. Those expressions would have to be eradicated.

‘You found me alright, then,’ Sallow poised rhetorically, swallowing a sip of whiskey as she eyed the woman in front of her suspiciously. The blonde nodded.

‘I apparated into Hogsmeade and then hiked my way up. It wasn’t too difficult to get in through one of the back entrances,’ the visitor established as she sat down on a seat opposite Sallow, who poured her a glass of whiskey. The blonde eagerly took it and instantly gulped it down, trying to calm her nerves.

‘In future, don’t drink unless it’s from your own glass. I doubt your family would approve of you drinking Muggle alcohol,’ Sallow said, a smugness evident in her voice. The blonde gulped, still nervous.

‘I won’t,’ she responded meekly, placing the glass down and putting her hands in her lap. Her eyes faced downwards and Sallow rolled her own.

‘I am not your mother, nor your fiancée. Do not be timid. Now tell me the news,’ Sallow spoke vigorously, cradling her icy glass in her hands. She felt warm, too warm.

‘They require you to keep the boy's influences appropriate,’ the blonde informed her, raising her eyes to look at Sallow again. Sallow could see so much fear in that shallow colour.

‘Which one?’ Sallow scoffed as she lay an elbow on her desk. She saw the blonde’s features visibly harden at Sallow’s repartee. _Too expressive,_ Sallow thought.

‘You know which one of the Black’s I mean. They’ve lost all prospects for the eldest,’ the blonde’s pitch increased from her frustration and Sallow smirked. The young one’s were easy to manipulate. Of course there were exceptions. This woman’s sister was one of them.

‘Relax, Narcissa. So my objectives haven’t been altered?’ Sallow asked, taking another long sip of her scotch. If only those blood purists could see her.

‘Are the boys conversing?’ Narcissa asked, a sense of urgency now leaving her voice that wasn’t there before. Sallow, once again, rolled her eyes.

‘They’re brothers, I’m sure there’s been some form of contact,’ Sallow said bluntly. Narcissa shoved her hands deeper into her robes.

‘Tell me what I want to hear,’ she pleased, closing her eyes as she asked the question, making Sallow sigh. This girl was too young for this, too untouched, unharmed. A child. This should have been Andromeda Tonks’s job, not the youngest one's.

‘No, I can provide no witness accounts of the two brothers communicating,’ Sallow said articulately. ‘As far as I know, Regulus Black is keeping to his Slytherin comrades.’

Narcissa breathed out what seemed to be a much needed sigh.

‘Good. My aunt and uncle _need_ an heir. That Sirius boy will, never live up to, he’s too far gone, he’s going down the same path as my sis-’ Narcissa’s words started leaving her head without a thought. Sallow stopped her by raising her hand. She wasn’t interested in some barely adult’s qualms.

‘I am well aware of the story, Narcissa, I do not need a recollection,’ Sallow exasperated. She hadn’t realised how far forward Narcissa had shifted in her seat until she shrank back, embarrassed by her outburst. ‘Regulus _will_ be a good heir for the House of Black.’

It had been shame that Cygnus and Druella Black had only conceived girls. There was no added boy to continue the legacy of the House of Black and so Druella had been shamed for it. Her shame transformed into hatred of herself and made her spiteful towards her daughters. The eldest, Bellatrix Black, now Lestrange, had bared the brunt of it. Sallow remembered Bellatrix. She had been a few years below her at school, a frightened first year. The curly, wild hair had made her easily recognisable. Over the years, Bellatrix had turned just as spiteful and malicious as her mother. Andromeda had gone the opposite direction, rebelled against the House of Black, married a Muggle-born and brought even more shame upon the family of Cygnus and Druella Black. Narcissa was caught in the middle. The youngest, the shyest, the most vulnerable. Her premature engagement to Lucius Malfoy terrified her.

Then the eldest Black son of Orion and Walburga Black started to defy. It threw the House of Black into turmoil. Walburga had been praised for having conceived two sons, and handsome ones at that, before Sirius started to destroy her image. Even Andromeda had been in Slytherin, despite her dissidence. Sirius was another story. A Black in Gryffindor. It was despicable.

Sirius, especially over the past year, had begun to resent everything the House of Black stood for. It was becoming more and more clear that the fates, unfortunately, had started to lie with Regulus.

Regulus had always been the meeker one of the two boys, much like Narcissa, a traditional little brother role. It had been Sirius who inherited the traditional, outspoken Black confidence. From the rumours circulating around the pureblood elite, it had become known that Walburga had been trying to stamp the Black out of Sirius and inflict it onto Regulus.

‘Have you had the insisted meetings with the boys?’ Narcissa asked, fact checking from a little black notebook she had at hand.

'I’ve had two with Regulus, and one with Sirius,’ Sallow replied lazily, making Narcissa’s eyes widen dramatically.

‘But you were supposed to have three with Sirius by now!’ she shrieked, panic evident in her eyes. Sallow flinched at the sound.

‘The whole point of me being here is that I don’t draw suspicion. Sirius Black is smart, incredibly so, more that your family will ever understand. He was suspicious the _first_ time I asked him to stay behind after class. I watch him from afar. I am not compromising my position,’ Sallow declared defiantly making Narcissa’s shoulders raise from the harshness of her tone. She would not be told what to do by a child.

‘I will tell them that you have done as they asked,’ Narcissa replied docilely. Sallow nodded in agreement.

‘You do that.’

‘And the McKinnon girl?’

‘I daren’t look at her, let alone talk to her,’ Sallow shifted uncomfortable in her seat at the mention of the surname. Narcissa frowned slightly at her reaction.

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t even let her enter my thoughts while Marcus McKinnon is prowling the grounds,’ Sallow wrinkled her nose and Narcissa’s face grew shocked.

‘That Auror? He’s here?’ she questioned, her own fear growing. Sallow nodded in response.

‘Nobody knows, but he’s hear, watching, waiting for something suspicious. Dumbledore’s not an idiot and so he got Moody to send him one of his best Auror’s. Nothing gets by McKinnon,’ Sallow explained. ‘If he ever caught wind someone was interrogating his only daughter, not to mention youngest child, they’d be dead before you could say snake.’

Narcissa shuddered at Sallow’s words and wrote what she needed to in her notebook. Sallow took a long awaited sip of her scotch and stood up, waiting to escort Narcissa out.

‘Be careful as you leave. McKinnon might be waiting to catch you on your way out,’ Sallow said cruelly, catching a glimpse of Narcissa’s scared eyes as she slammed the door in her face. Tired, Sallow down the rest of her scotch and snapped her fingers, turning the light out.

In the Forest, four luminous blue lights lit up a clearing of trees. All the lights were connected to wands, with three of them being placed in trees while one was kept in a hand. That hand belonged to Remus, and he was, seemingly, standing all alone.

Out of nowhere, a big, black dog leapt out of the shadows, his tail high in the air. A small grey rat appeared to be on its back, clinging for dear life as Remus watched the dog bound around the clearing before changing its direction and heading straight for him. Remus put his arms up weakly, to protect himself, but the dog jumped straight onto him, knocking him over, sending Remus into fits of laughter. The dog was panting happily on top of him while the rat scurried away somewhere behind him.

‘You look like the fucking Grim, mate, this is insane,’ Remus laughed as the dog climbed off of him.

Remus leant up on his elbows, a bright smile on his face. He turned round when he felt a nuzzling on his hair. Behind him stood a majestic stag, with antlers Remus swore were almost longer than its legs. Atop of one of the antlers sat the rat from before. Remus giggled and reached out his hand to the rat, which gladly scampered up his arm and settled on his shoulder.

‘What the _fuck_ ,’ Remus swore in astonishment under his breath as he stood up and brushed off his trousers, amazed eyes looking at the dog and the stag in front of him. Before his eyes, the stag transformed into one of his best friends, James Potter. Grinning at him, James moved to stand next to Remus and observe the dog, who was still happily wagging its tail, tongue hanging out as it panted.

‘Well, that’s one way we’ll be able to scare people,’ James chuckled as he looked down at the dog, patting Remus on the shoulder that the rat wasn’t perched. ‘I reckon we call him Padfoot.’

‘Where did that come from?’ Remus asked, questioning the nickname with a wide smile.

‘Dunno, he’s got padded feet?’ James snickered, amusing himself.

‘How profound, Prongs,’ the voice of Sirius Black arose from nowhere. James and Remus looked forward again and in place of the shaggy black dog stood Sirius, adorned with his typical smirk and raised eyebrow.

‘Means you can also walk silently mate. And Prongs?’ James asked, his grin changing slightly to a cheeky smile. Sirius winked at him.

‘Those are some antlers you got on you, mate,’ Sirius sniggered, patting James on the head. ‘You could ram someone through with them.’

‘Fair enough,’ James shrugged happily, looking over to the rat on Remus’s shoulder. ‘What about this little guy then?’

Remus took the rat off his shoulder and placed it on the ground. Within seconds, the rat had magically transformed into Peter Pettigrew, and a very happy and excited one at that.

‘I reckon we call you Wormtail, mate,’ Remus offered up the name. Peter pondered the name for a moment before grinning bashfully.

‘My tail does look quite like a worm, it has to be said,’ he giggled.

‘So that’s us settled, sick,’ Sirius said, started to head back to the castle after collecting his wand along with James and Peter. Remus hung back.

‘Guys, wait! What about my name?’ he asked, slightly offended at the forgetfulness of his friends. He was put on edge when they turned round grinning.

‘Moony, mate. This is where we put your nickname to good use now that we’ve all got one! Come on, ya werewolf!’ James bellowed with laughter, making Remus smirk and roll his eyes. Shoving his wand in his pocket, he ran to catch up with them, a feeling of warmth in his belly.

Despite how terrified he was of how he might react to new animals being around him during a full moon, he couldn’t deny at how calm he was feeling for the next one. Even though he wouldn’t know or understand in his wolf form, he’d have someone to spend those treacherous nights with, someone to keep him company and prevent him from going crazy. As much as he was still more or less against the plan, he knew it would now be impossible to change their minds.

The boys spent most of the following evening in a fairly hidden empty classroom in the school, practising their transformations in attempts to make them flawless for the next full moon. They needed to ensure than they could switch between forms as smoothly as possible and that they didn’t need to concentrate too much on it or staying in their Animagus forms. Remus couldn’t even begin to express how impressed he was with the boys. Three fifteen year olds (Sirius starting when he was fifteen) had managed to successfully become Animagi. It was unheard of, revolutionary.

Things were going swimmingly for the boys until Peeves, the resident Hogwarts poltergeist, appeared from nowhere, successfully scaring them.

‘What are you four little bandits doing in here?’ Peeves said slyly, causing the boys to whip their heads round in fright at the sound of him. Thankfully, none of them had been in their Animagus form as Peeves entered the room, swaying side to side with an evil look of mischief on his face.

‘Fucking hell, Peeves, you could give someone half a heart attack,’ James exclaimed. The boys were normally on quite good terms with Peeves, often helping each other with pranks and finding common ground. At the moment, however, they were on edge in case of being discovered.

‘A little mischief going on here, then?’ the poltergeist did backflips gleefully as he interrogated them.

‘None of your business,’ Remus said bluntly.

‘Oh, feisty little Gryffindor. What a roaring heart,’ Peeves retorted mockingly as they started to leave, not wishing to spend any more time with him than they had to.

‘What a git,’ Peter muttered as they passed through the portrait of the Fat Lady. The other hummed in agreement as they stepped into the Common Room to run straight into Alice.

‘Remus, good, I’ve been looking for you, we have rounds in, like, two minutes,’ Alice informed him, looking relieved to have found him. There was nothing Alice hated more than walking around the castle late at night, along. It spooked her to no end.

‘Oh shit, yeah, sorry, I forgot. Let’s go,’ Remus said apologetically. Saying bye to the boys, Remus headed back out the portrait hole with the spunky Gryffindor girl, leaving the other three in the Common Room to find a spot to sit.

‘Marls, my girl! You look stressed,’ James enunciated as he collapsed onto the sofa in front of the fire next to Marlene. She was sitting next to Lily, furiously scribbling a quill over parchment. She was not enjoying the hug that James decided to enclose upon her.

‘Arithmancy is _hell_ , get the fuck off me,’ Marlene grunted, pushing James off her, and not even glancing in his direction, but a small smile did etch upon her face. ‘I need to get this done tomorrow or Professor Artem will feed me to the dragons.’

‘I’m amazed at how much you care about school this year, Marls, even though you’re as sharp as a whistle,’ Lily said with a giggle as she flipped the pages of her book. Marlene sent her a soft glare as she twirled her quill between her fingers.

‘Ha-ha. Not that I know what any of your Muggle expressions mean,’ was Marlene’s deadpan response.

‘Seriously, where’s our fun-loving, rule-breaking, pain in the ass Marlene gone?’ Peter asked in good nature but received a cool blue-eyed stare.

‘She’s not all of a sudden turned into a good girl, Pete, if that’s what you’re insinuating,’ Sirius chuckled as he sat on the arm of the armchair that Lily was snuggled in.

‘Huh?’ Lily asked, while Marlene lifted her head to look at him for the first time.

‘You may want to get your wannabe Healer friend over here to start fixing those bruises on your neck, McKinnon, ‘cause your hair doesn’t cover them as well as you think,’ Sirius said, laughing as he watched Lily leap out of the armchair and pull Marlene’s blonde mass to the side to reveal a series of hickeys down her neck.

‘Damn, Marls,’ James snickered as he too leaned over to inspect her neck. Marlene shoved Lily back into her seat and fixed her hair.

‘A girls got to do what a girls got to do,’ she responded nonchalantly, putting her attention back into her essay, although it looked more like a series of complicated numbers to the rest of them.

‘Oh, come on Marls! Tell us who it was! And _when_ ,’ Lily pleaded enthusiastically, putting her book to the side. The boys looked taken aback by the redhead.

‘You’re condoning this?’ James asked in shock at Lily’s eagerness.

‘Of course not!’ Lily said pointedly before grinning again. ‘But it’s bloody fun to listen to.’

‘Merlin, people, any idea of what the word privacy means?’ Marlene exasperated, though her amusement shone through at Lily’s excitement.

‘I think privacy went out the window when your make-up skills did, McKinney,’ Sirius fired, his arms crossed as he looked on casually, charmed by the whole situation. He caught her blue eyes fleeting over him, entertained.

‘Maybe you should teach me how to cover them up, Black, seeing as you’re so good from the amount of girls that give you them,’ Marlene responded wittily as she leaned back on the sofa, her essay laying forgotten.

‘A fair few. You jealous?’

‘Not of the STDs that lay on your dick.’

‘ _Okay,_ and we’ll break it up there,’ James interrupted, leaning forward between his two friends, not enjoying where conversation was headed.

Growing up, Sirius and Marlene had always fired shots at each other, it was their friendship and their form of banter. Obviously, as the years went in, their insults grew more explicit and James, though he found them highly entertaining, tended to put a stop to them when it wasn’t just the three of them to avoid completely scarring someone from how intense the slurs would get. It was a good thing neither Sirius or Marlene took it to heart, or at least, they didn’t show that they did. They enjoyed getting a rise out of each other. 

Before long, the lot of them went up to their dormitories to get ready for bed. A mission the boys had recently given themselves was to step up the most fool proof first aid box they could create. They knew they were going to get beaten and scratched up on their nights with the werewolf, and they couldn’t go to Madam Pomfrey for the risk exposing their new Animagi secret. They had checked out numerous books from the Library about healing spells and other forms of healthcare and were planning to practice them daily.

Sirius reached for the kit and added a bruise numbing cream that he’d managed to swipe from Madam Pomfrey earlier in the day. It got him back to thinking about Marlene’s hickeys. It didn’t bother him that she was messing around with other guys. What he wouldn’t allow himself to admit however is how completely indifferent she was to him about what happened, how she managed to forget it so quickly. What did boost his pride, however, is that she still had his t-shirt.

Lily was padding bare-foot around the girls dormitory as they all got ready for bed, Marlene sat in an oversized t-shirt and reading over the final points in her essay, adding the finishing touches.

‘Hey, Marls, I’ve been meaning to say, that shirt is so cool, where did you get it?’ Lily asked as she folded her clothes from the day. Marlene looked down at the shirt she was wearing. It was a black tour t-shirt of the Muggle band _Queen_ with all the dates of one of their UK tours on the back. It was at least two sizes too big for her and reached down to her mid-thigh. She always wore big shirts to wear to sleep, she found them comfier while Lily like her standard cotton pyjama trouser and shirt sets.

‘Uh, I don’t even know, I must have just stolen it from one of my brothers or something,’ Marlene replied, sucking on the end of her quill, her eyes glued to her essay. She was lying.

Lily climbed into bed, murmuring about wanting to find a similar t-shirt before drawing the curtains of her four poster bed around her. Marlene set her essay to the side and breathed in what was remaining of the foreign yet familiar scent on the t-shirt. It was a comforting smell, woody, but manly. She could never quite bring herself to leave the shirt, neatly folded back on Sirius’s bed ever since that night. She liked the smell too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a different chapter today, but I had a lot of fun writing it. The House of Black is just too bloody fascinating of a family to not speak about and I can't wait to write more about them. And don't worry, you'll definitely hear some of Marls and Sirius's more outrageous and funny slurs in chapters to come ;).  
> Love, Julia xx


	15. Combinations

Alice was still trying to concoct an excuse of why she couldn’t spend the first Hogsmeade weekend with the girls, rather than telling them she wanted to slip away with her boyfriend, Frank, on the morning of the Hogsmeade weekend. She was lacing up her heeled combat boots, a certain style she was known for as she loved the height it added to her slight frame. Frank adored teasing her for how small she was, but always contested that by saying her presence was taller than the tallest giant. Frank was the only one who had ever been able to make Alice swoon with such words.

Dorcas peeked her head through the dormitory door and told Alice to hurry up, them all waiting for her in the Common Room to head to the little village. The last horseless carriage which took the students to Hogsmeade left at eleven in the morning and Alice was cutting it incredibly fine. Alice jumped up, shoved on a woolly hat to protect her from the crisp air and hurried down to her friends, the four of the catching a carriage just in time.

They proceeded on the rickety drive to Hogsmeade, Dorcas chattering on about her need to visit _Gladrags Wizardwear_ as she had been desperately needing a new school skirt for the past few days. In the fifth year Care of Magical Creatures class, Professor Kettleburn had recently introduced them to a series of baby dragons, which Dorcas had more than happily embraced as they were ones that just hatched and were incredibly adorable. An incredibly cute and surprisingly friendly little Chinese Fireball had taken a particular liking to Dorcas, following her around during class and often flying up into her arms to be held. Dorcas couldn’t deny that she was becoming rather attached to her newfound scaly companion. Only her school skirt had suffered the drawbacks of the friendship. The Fireball (which she had affectionately named Larry) had sneezed rather aggressively, shooting a small spurt of flames onto her school skirt, singing it. She had been dealing with the wolf-whistles of James as Sirius the entire week, Remus profusely apologising for their lewd behaviour.

Lily also had her own plan for the day. She was to meet up with Snape at some point. Of course he wanted to keep her more hidden so she wouldn’t have slurs thrown at her by his Slytherin colleagues. She had rather been looking forward to meeting up with Severus again, having not spoken to him much since he surprised her at the Library. They had agreed to meet in the little alleyway next to _Tomes and Scrolls,_ a peculiar spot to meet up, but Lily wouldn’t be able to meet up with him for long anyway. Once Dorcas had finished he skirt shopping, they were planning to go to The Three Broomsticks for a drink, along with Marlene. Alice had already spoken to them that she had some business to attend, although she was reluctant to tell them what. Lily was pretty sure it was because Alice hadn’t thought of a good enough excuse yet.

They arrived in Hogsmeade and exited the carriage, bidding a goodbye to Alice as she scurried off in her own direction. It didn’t bother the girls much as their friend had always been a bit of a loose cannon with a sense of misdirection, and they had stopped questioning her wild goose chases some time ago. Lily sent Dorcas and Marlene off to the clothing store, saying she would catch up with them and firstly wanted to visit the bookstore, which was strange to neither of the two girls. Lily was a notorious bookworm.

The redhead buttoned up her jacket and left the pair, shoving her hands in her pocket as she briskly made her way across the small village to her destination. Th cold nipped at her face as she passed the masses of Hogwarts students that were littered across the main street, seeing the bookstore in sight. She passed the front door of it and then made a sharp left, heading into the small alleyway that would take her to The Quill Tavern, a small, reclusive pub that she was pretty sure no one from the school even knew about.

‘So, how short a skirt were we thinking,’ Marlene giggled as she whipped out a large navy blue belt, wiggling her eyebrows comically. Dorcas laughed and shook her head at her blonde friends suggestions.

‘Well, first of all, it needs to be grey, and it terms of shortness … the shortest!’ Dorcas exclaimed, after feigning to ponder the idea for a second. Marlene chuckled as she hung the belt back on the rail and they continued looking, their eyes focused on a grey colour.

‘What do you think Alice is up to today?’ Marlene questioned absentmindedly as she brows. Dorcas raised herself onto her toes so she could see Marlene over the rail.

‘I know she always says she’s not interested in boys and that they’re a waste of time, but I’ve kind of started wondering if there actually is one in the picture,’ Dorcas confessed her thoughts as she peered over the rail. Marlene stopped for a moment before racing over to be on the same side as Dorcas.

‘You reckon there’s, like, a secret boyfriend or something?’ Marlene asked with a dying curiosity. Dorcas shrugged.

‘I don’t know, but it seems plausible. I just don’t understand why she wouldn’t tell us, or at least me, you know,’ Dorcas replied, making Marlene sympathise and give her a quick hug.

Although the four girls were thick as thieves, they were divided into two, with Lily and Marlene as best friends and then Dorcas and Alice as a duo. The four had joined forces sometime halfway through their first year and had become unbreakable ever since, their friendship become aspirational, if not the source of jealousy of other girls. The four of them just considered themselves extremely lucky for finding such good friends in their schooldays.

‘If that is the case, Cas, she’s probably just keeping it quiet because it’s quite new. Who knows, maybe it’s even an older guy,’ Marlene said with a wink, evoking a chortle out of Dorcas.

Frank and Alice had soon realised that going to the lookout area onto the Shrieking Shack to get some privacy was not the best idea. There was a swarm of third years for who its was their first time in Hogsmeade and so they were running wild around the place, trying to see anything and everything they possibly could their first time round. A rookie mistake in Alice’s view.

‘You know, we could always go to that Quill Tavern place, I’ve been told it’s always really quiet in there,’ Frank suggested, grabbing his girlfriend’s hand as they were walking and pulled her round to face him. Alice greeted him with an unsure look on her face.

‘Are you sure? I’ve heard that place is more deserted and sketchier than Hog’s Head, how do you know about it?’ Alice stated, moving in close to hug him. He smiled into her hair before pulling back.

‘The boys told me about it.’

‘What boys?’

‘James and that lot.’

Alice pondered the idea for a second. It did seem like a very "James and that lot" thing to do and know about, a secretive pub that was just theirs to hang out in. If they walked in to see Alice and Frank together, it wouldn’t matter because they already knew about the two of them and as far as she knew, hadn’t told anyone.

‘Alright, let’s go. There’s no harm in us getting into a building anyway, even Merlin would be freezing his balls off here,’ Alice joked, taking a tighter grip on Frank’s hand, and pulling him down in the direction of Hogsmeade Main Street.

By now, Lily was making her way up to The Three Broomsticks, her walk clearly showing her frustration as her large strides commenced. Her encounter with Snape had not been as pleasant as she’d hoped. If she were being honest, all she’d really been doing with Snape the past few months was getting into disagreements.

It was his flaw, his inability to see past Lily. He loved her, glorified her, he only saw the bad they did to her. Because she was special, she was _Lily_. She’d looked to him for guidance when it came to Hogwarts, but then she found her own way, forcing him to find his. He liked being the one she relied on and he couldn’t quite pinpoint when that changed. It was gradual.

He was left, standing in the alley, hair hanging over his face as his eyes drooped. He sensed two people walk past him, the couplet of footsteps, but he didn’t look up. The walked to the opposite wall and stuck to it as they passed him, refusing to engage with him. He was partly glad and partly irritated that they didn’t take an interest.

His reunion with Lily had started civilly enough. With a hug and a smile.

‘Hey, Sev, how you been?’ she had asked, flicking some red hair out of her face. He always liked it when she did that.

He told her he was fine as he missed her. They discussed Potions class at some length and their involvement in the Slug club and the upcoming Christmas party he always held for the students he deemed exceptional. From the Gryffindor fifth years, only he, Lily and that McKinnon girl were members.

The conversation grew from there and somehow wound to Lily discussing Gideon Prewett with him, as though they were any old friends. That struck a cord within him. He already hated Potter enough for his involvement with Lily, but now he had to deal with another bloke.

‘You know he’s a blood traitor,’ the words escaped before he could stop them, cutting Lily off mid-sentence. She frowned at him.

‘Blood traitor? That’s one of the most ridiculous names I’ve ever heard,’ she replied, wrinkling her nose at the conjoined words. Snape sighed. He could never quite get her to see things from his point of view.

‘It’s what Mulciber calls them. People that fraternise with Muggles,’ he shrugged. Mulciber also included Muggle-borns in that equation, but he wasn’t stupid enough to say that to Lily. He wasn’t stupid at all, but he had a temper.

‘The fact Mulciber is even your acquaintance is low,’ Lily muttered, scuffing the uneven ground with her shoe.

‘Lily, we’ve been over this,’ Snape said gently, and Lily scoffed at him.

‘Did you not hear what he did to those first year Hufflepuff’s the other day. They were all Muggle-born as well,’ Lily spoke with raised eyebrows. ‘Ended up in the Hospital Wing, they did.’

‘No one could prove it was Mulciber.’

‘Oh, don’t be dense!’ Lily said, her voice raising and her arms dropping from their folded position in despair. He didn’t like it when she raised his voice to him. ‘Of course it was Mulciber! Just ‘cause there’s no proof, does not mean everyone is stupid. They know what your lot is getting up to.’

‘My lot?’

‘Yes, the one’s you hang out with. It’s fair enough that you stand up for me, and you would stop them if any of them wanted to harm me, but I don’t care. I’d rather you defended everyone else rather than me, I can do that myself,’ Lily declared.

‘Yeah, 'cause you let Potter do it for you,’ Snape muttered under his breath, but Lily heard. She heard very well.

‘Potter has got absolutely nothing to do with this, why are you even bringing him up,’ she questioned demandingly.

‘Nothing,’ he mumbled in reply. Lily sneered, done with the conversation.

‘Fine don’t tell me. But I can’t be bothered with this. Come find me when you get out of your mood and you’re actually willing to talk,’ she said on a final note and stormed off away from him, heading back into the hustle and bustle of the lovely village street.

Alice and Frank had entered The Quill Tavern, and, as they were expecting, inside at the bar, sat the four boys named James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, all with pints in their had and having a friendly discussion with the bartender. The bell rang which announced their arrival and the four faces beamed at the couple.

‘I _told_ you they would end up coming here,’ Sirius snickered as he took another sip of his pint. The owner came out from around the bar and greeted the pair of them.

‘Hi, I’m Heron. Sit anywhere you’d like, we’re always pretty empty,’ he grinned at them. Alice was confused. The guy was young and seemed lovely. Yes, the outside of his pub was a bit unkempt and shabby looking, but she couldn’t understand why more students hadn’t taken advantage of such a hidden spot.

‘Thank you. How did you guys know we would come here?’ she directed the second part of her question to the boys, Frank motioning to Heron for two pints.

‘You’re a couple, you’re trying to keep it a secret and I told Frank about this place. We knew it wouldn’t take long for you to walk through the door,’ Sirius explained as both Alice and Frank occupied two barstools to sit on.

‘Why is this place so empty, it’s really lovely,’ Alice asked Heron as she took in the place.

It was almost like slightly modified version of the Gryffindor Common Room. The exterior of the place wouldn’t hint it, but inside, it was incredibly cosy. There were booths lining the walls and sets of tables and chairs in the middle. In front of the surprisingly large fireplace sat a collection of sofas and armchairs, all mismatched, but it seemed to add to the charm. It had an instant homey feel.

‘Right, we’re going to head off,’ James stated, downing the rest of his pint, and slamming it down on the bar top, Heron chuckling at his actions.

‘Oh, no, don’t leave on our account,’ Frank tried to protest, but James shook his head at his protests, clamping a hand down on his shoulder.

‘Don’t worry, Longbottom. We got some skirts waiting for us at The Three Broomsticks anyway, can’t have them waiting too long,’ Sirius jeered, tossing his coat over his shoulders.

‘Why don’t you just bring them here?’

‘And let them find out how brilliant this place is? No chance,’ Remus laughed. The boys bid the couple and Heron goodbye, the bell ringing as the exited the pub. Alice and Frank turned around to face Heron.

‘They’re great for my business,’ he joked.

Lily forced herself to calm down as she entered The Three Broomsticks. She didn’t want her friends to see her upset, mainly because she didn’t want to mention that she’d met up with Snape. Marlene always got worried, although she almost thought the blonde would have been proud of her if she were to tell her. She had stood up for herself.

In one of the corner booths of the pub, she saw Dorcas waving to her as her friends sat with their tankards of butterbeer, two blue paper bags sat on either side of them. Lily guessed Marlene must have bought herself something too.

‘Hey, did you find the book you wanted?’ Dorcas asked as Lily slid into the booth, taking a gulp of butterbeer the girls had kindly bought her.

‘No, they didn’t have it in stock, but they said they’d order it for me by the next Hogsmeade trip,’ Lily fabricated, though she avoided eye contact with Marlene. The girl had a talent for seeing through her lies.

‘Oh, I hope they bring it in for you then. We were actually just discussing what we’d like to do after Hogwarts,’ Dorcas told her, though Marlene was no longer paying attention, the entrance of four boisterous boys catching her eye.

‘Why, have you changed your mind?’

‘Nope, still pretty set on being an Auror, but just the other stuff, you know,’ Dorcas replied happily, but also noticed that Marlene’s attention had been diverted.

‘What about you, Marls, with the whole Auror path in your family,’ Lily asked. Both of Marlene’s parents, as well as her brothers, Matthew and Maxwell, were Auror’s. Max had only just graduated Hogwarts last year, so he was still in his Auror training, but from what Marlene had told them, he was the strongest first year there.

‘I’ll be back in a second,’ Marlene replied instead and left the booth, heading up to the bar.

‘Hey, Rosie, would you be a doll and get me that pint,’ Marlene asked, making the bartender and owner laugh from her antics.

‘Alright, you rascal, but don’t let your mother know, she’ll have my head,’ Madam Rosmerta chuckled and handed her a glass full of Wizard’s Brew beer, Sirius’s favourite. The McKinnon’s and Madam Rosmerta were tight, Rosmerta being somewhat a cool aunt to Marlene, allowing the blonde to charm her.

‘I would never,’ Marlene exaggerated with a wink, pulling out seven sickles and three knuts from her pocket to pay. She waited for the pint to be poured, and while leaning against the bar, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a smirking Regulus Black.

‘Hey, Reg! What’s up?’ Marlene exclaimed cheerfully when she saw him, lunging in for a hug before he settled down next to her at the bar.

‘I haven’t seen you in ages. I wanted to come and check up on you,’ Regulus grinned back at her handsomely, his aristocratic features shining. His arm moved to affectionately squeeze Marlene’s hand as he spoke.

The two had always got along weirdly well. Regulus had a sharp wit that Marlene appreciated and the two seemed to bounce of each other. They had met near the kitchens when he was in first year and Marlene in her second. He had recognised her as the McKinnon girl when she questioned if he was okay. He confessed that he was trying to find the kitchens, something about Marlene making him trust her. Her lips had upturned into a sly smile and she took him to the kitchens, as well as stayed with him. Their friendship had blossomed from there.

‘That’s so sweet. I’ve been good, I will say Arithmancy has been killing me though,’ Marlene said, thanking Rosmerta to the side as she handed her the point, making Regulus raise a brow.

‘You charming your way around, McKinnon?’ he teased, his dark eyes smouldering between her and the drink.

‘Why, you jealous?’

‘Should I be?’

‘Only if you’re wanting a drink,’ Marlene laughed, sliding the money for the drink over the counter. ‘Congratulations on diffusing Gryffindor and Slytherin tension, by the way. Sexy,’ she added with a wink, Regulus pretending to look away bashfully.

‘Oh stop, I’m blushing,’ he chuckled, hand on heart. ‘It was nothing really, just guys being immature.’

‘Who’d’ve thought a fourth year boy would be more mature than some fifth years,’ Marlene said in a mockingly dreamy voice. ‘Actually, if I were to pick any of you to marry right now, in terms of maturity, it would be you.’

‘Wow, you’ve got to take me to dinner first, love,’ Regulus taunted her, returning the wink she sent him.

‘Nah, you’re either all in or not at all with me, honey,’ Marlene grinned up at him. He’d also grown over the summer and now towered over her. He was still on the skinnier side, like Sirius had been, but she reckoned by sixteen he would bulk out as well.

‘I’ll take the marriage route then.’

With a leggy brunette strewn over his lap, Sirius’s attention had been drawn to the bar where he saw his brother and Marlene laughing about something or other. The smirk dropped from his face as he watched them, throwing teasing comments at each other. Regulus said something to make Marlene roll her eyes and hit him lightly on the bicep. He looked down at her other hand to see a pint of Wizard’s Brew, which he knew was his.

He suddenly stood up, the brunette being dropped from his lap with whine and started moving towards the bar without a second thought, towards his brother and Marlene, the alcohol forming a foggy cloud in his brain.

‘That for me, McKinney?’ he asked as he moved his arm to wrap around her shoulders and locked eyes with Regulus, who’s face had fallen from his face quickly, visibly tense. ‘Hey Reggie,’ Sirius greeted him with a mocking tone.

‘Still using that name are we?’

‘It suits a little guy like you.’

‘Right, fuck this. Reg, I promise I’ll talk to you up at the castle soon. I can’t be arsed standing here and watching you two fight,’ Marlene stepped in to prevent a brawl from happening, removing Sirius’s arm from around her. Regulus understood her notion.

‘See you around, Marls,’ he said with a nod towards her. With one last glare at his elder brother, he moved back to his previous table, where he was sat with a few of his Slytherin friends.

Marlene turned around to face Sirius. ‘You really can’t help yourself, can you?’

‘What?’ he asked innocently, a frown forming on his face. Marlene let out a breath of dismay.

‘Nothing. If you can’t see it for yourself, then I’m not going to make you,’ she spoke with a level of condescension Sirius didn’t care for. She picked up the pint and handed it to him. ‘That’s your pint, birthday boy, now go back to your skets.’

Before she could leave, Sirius grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

‘What do you want from me, Marley?’ he asked, searching her face. She gave him a small smile, eyeing the leather jacket he was wearing.

‘Absolutely nothing.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't lie, I do love me some Regulus Black :) hope you guys enjoyed and keep letting me know what you think, I really do appreciate it!  
> Love, Julia xx


	16. The Famed Alchemist

Remus woke up early that morning, earlier than usual. He crept out of bed, glad the other three boys in the dorm kept their curtains shut so he wouldn’t disturb them with the light of his wand as he made his way to the bathroom. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, and spent maybe a tad too long on his hair. He didn’t want to admit why.

Dorcas was already waiting for him in the darkened Common Room, the only light being given off was from the remaining cinders of the evening fire. She beamed at him as he walked down, the early morning glow suiting her well.

‘Hey, you ready to go?’ she asked, Remus knew out of courtesy more than anything. He wasn’t usually up at five in the morning on a Saturday voluntarily, so yes, he was ready to go.

‘Yep. If you don’t mind me asking, where are we actually going?’ Remus questioned as they stepped out of the portrait hole and started making their way down to the statue of the one-eyed witch. That was Remus’s plan to get them to Heron’s and out of Hogsmeade.

‘Paris,’ Dorcas replied shortly, checking over her shoulder to make sure no one was creeping up on them. Like most, she found the castle a bit spooky in the early hours. Remus stopped his movements to look at her, surprised by the reply.

‘Paris?’ he asked in slight disbelief. Dorcas frowned at him.

‘Did I not tell you that? Oh, I’m sorry, I thought I’d mentioned it,’ she said, letting out a breathy laugh. Remus got over his shock and grinned down at her.

‘No, it’s no problem, I just expected us to be going to London or something, but Paris it is,’ he said and they continued walking, making it through the tunnel, of which Dorcas was greatly surprised by and tried not to trip up on the uneven floor of the dreary tunnel. Before they entered the passageway through the one-eyed witch, he had made her promise not to tell a soul about it. She swore on her life and gasped when she saw it, amazed by the secrets Hogwarts had to offer. 

‘You ever been to Paris before?’ she asked him out of curiosity. Remus shook his head, feeling that they were towards the end of the tunnel.

‘No, but I’ve always wanted to. It looks beautiful,’ he replied, coming to a stop as he felt the ladder opposite him. ‘Do you mind if I go first to check if the coast is clear?’

‘Not at all, go, be my gentleman,’ Dorcas, laughed. Remus was grateful that it was dark, it covered the flush he felt on his cheeks.

He climbed up the few steps of the ladder and pushed open the trap door ceiling, peeking out to see if anyone would catch them. It was still dark in the Honeydukes cellar, indicating no one was up yet. Remus breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the hatch open fully, before climbing out, offering Dorcas a hand, which she took upon her own exit.

They managed to sneak out of the store, the sun not even out yet and a sliver of moon still upon the horizon. Remus rolled his eyes at it. It was practically taunting him.

The turned down the alley that took them to The Quill Tavern and Remus started banging on the front door of the establishment, alarming Dorcas with the action, her eyes widening.

‘Remus, you can’t just wake someone up like this, Merlin’s pants!’ she whispered, tugging his arm down by his jacket. Remus smirked down at her.

‘Don’t worry, the guys a mate,’ he said cheerfully, just as the front door opened to reveal a dishevelled and sleepy Heron, hair sticking up in the most curious manner.

‘Lupin, I know you love me, but I am not going to serve you at quarter to six in the morning,’ Heron said sleepily, resting his head on the door frame. Remus grinned at him.

‘We just need to use you fireplace, mate, we got places to be,’ Remus said cheerfully as he grabbed Dorcas’s hand and pushed past the barely conscious figure, who frowned upon Remus’s words.

‘The fireplace? Are you Flooing somewhere?’ Heron asked, as Dorcas and Remus walked towards the fireplace. It was only then, when she turned round, that she realised Heron was shirtless. She felt her skin heat up and urged herself to look anywhere but the man’s chest.

‘Ten points to Gryffindor,’ Remus muttered, grabbing a small pot from the top of the fireplace, and handed it to Dorcas. It was full of sparkly, green Floo powder. Dorcas smirked to herself, wondering just how many times the boys had actually done this.

She took a handful of the powder and flew it into the fireplace, alighting dancing green flames, that tickled as she stepped in it. She nodded to Remus, who smiled at her before she took a deep breath to announce her destination.

‘ _Pontoise!_ ’ she yelled into the flames, clearly, so Remus could here the name of the destination. In an instant, she was whooshed away, a series of fireplaces whizzing around her as she held her arms tightly to her body.

‘You so fancy her,’ Heron chuckled as Remus took his own fistful of Floo powder to use.

‘I do not!’ Remus rejected Heron’s conclusion, which only exceeded Heron’s laughter.

‘Ah, denial. The first stage of love,’ he teased, Remus glaring at him as he stepped into the flames.

‘ _Pontoise!_ ’ he exclaimed, also disappearing into the world of exits.

‘That’s right, just run away, don’t confront it!’ Heron yelled after him, still chuckling away as he made his way back to bed.

Remus was feeling quite ill by the time the fire finally tossed him out onto a cold tile floor. He coughed and climbed up from his knees to be greeted to the inside of a beautiful, pillared room, with stunning stained glass windows and paintings. A wooden crucifix hung on one of the pillars which, on closer inspection, had some vines carved into the stone. He looked up to the top of the room and saw what looked like a sort of altar.

‘Where are we?’ he asked as he spun around, looking all over the room. Dorcas chuckled at his actions.

‘Cathédrale Saint-Maclou,’ she said perfectly, her French accent being one of the sexiest things he’d ever heard. He grinned at her. ‘My grandparents don’t really have a fireplace large enough for us to get to, so I just use the church one. It’s the default one set by the Floo Network when you ask to go to Pontoise.’

‘It’s beautiful, I mean … this is art,’ Remus gasped, leaning his hands on one of the pillars.

‘Roman Catholic. It’s pretty damn beautiful. Especially when the sun come streaming in through the window, the whole place just looks, well, magical,’ Dorcas sighed happily as she twirled down the isle of chairs. Even in a place that picturesque, she was still the most gorgeous thing in the room.

‘Muggles do pretty well at making their own magic,’ Remus breathed, as they ended up standing on opposite ends of the room. Dorcas beamed down at him, they early morning sun beginning to pour in, creating her halo.

‘Yeah, they do,’ she said. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

They left the cathedral and made they’re way out into the street, ensuring that they locked the large wooden door behind them that had been a pain to pull open, but they managed. Remus quickly checked that Dorcas’s grandfather’s notes hadn’t fallen out of his pocket. They hadn’t, and he patted them down, hoping the tissue he wrapped them in kept them intact.

‘Do a lot of wizard’s live here?’ Remus asked as they started walking through the little commune of Paris. They passed a man who was unloading baguettes into a little sandwich shop from a blue van. An elderly lady was already hanging her washing out of her balcony and there was a young boy on a bicycle tossing newspapers onto doorsteps.

‘I think quite a fair amount live here actually,’ Dorcas told him. ‘It’s definitely more of a Muggle town, but from what I know, they all live in harmony. My grandparents have lived here practically all their lives and there’s not even a scratch on them.’

Remus had never been somewhere that felt quite so peaceful, despite this being Paris. Dorcas seemed to know the commune like the back of her hand as she took the twists and turns of the street without a second thought. Remus checked his watch to see that it had just turned to half past six in the morning when they arrived at a stunning little townhouse with a lionhead’s knocker on the blue front door.

‘Are you sure we’re not too early?’ Remus asked, slightly hesitant. It only just seemed to dawn on him that he was actually about to meet Dorcas’s grandparents. In an attempt to make the best impression possible, he started brushing off any remaining soot that clung to his clothes and tried to tame his windswept hair that had messed up over the Floo travel. Why he even bothered doing it in the first place, at this point, he didn’t know.

‘Rem, these are some of the sweetest elderly people you will ever meet, and they would not care less if you arrived at four in the morning or eleven at night. Now stop worrying, they’ll love you, I promise,’ Dorcas reassured him, giving him a quick hug, before she reached her arm out and used the lionhead to knock.

Instead of a knocking sound, a lovely, melodious tune could be heard ringing inside the house, which made Dorcas grin. Her grandmother loved magic, more so than anyone she ever knew. She appreciated every little thing about it and used it for everything. She always said it was the greatest gift she could have ever been given and it was a waste of a talent if she was not to use it for all it was worth, even if it was just to improve the dreary, mundane parts of life.

The door opened to reveal an extremely elderly lady, with hair as white as snow and wrinkles deep in her skin, but the most spectacular and lively pair of green eyes Remus had ever seen. If even possible, they lit up even more when she saw Dorcas, he slight and elegant frame fully visible now that she’d pushed the door back.

‘Dorcas!’ she exclaimed in a gentle voice and Dorcas’s face broke out into a huge grin as she attacked her grandmother with a hug. Her French accent was very heavy, yet clear.

‘Grandmama!’ Dorcas retaliated, burrowing her head into her grandmother’s neck as the hugged. They broke apart, with her grandmother instantly taking an interest in the young man that was Remus who was still standing on the curb of the street.

‘And who eez zees ‘andosme, young gentleman?’ she asked she motioned to him, Dorcas enticing Remus to introduce himself.

‘Good morning, Madam, my name is Remus Lupin, I’m a friend of your granddaughters,’ he presented himself, sticking out a hand. The woman simply smiled at him.

‘Please, my dear, call me Perenelle. And in zees family, we do not shake ‘ands, we ‘ug,’ Perenelle introduced herself and pulled him into a hug also, much to Remus’s surprise. They pulled back to see Dorcas ecstatic.

‘Now, come in, both of you. We 'ave so much to catch up on, my dear Dorcas, and I vant to ‘ear all about your fine fellow ‘ere,’ Perenelle said, wiggling her eyebrows at the two of them as she lead them into one of the grandest living rooms Remus had ever seen. The drapes were a powder blue and regal in their stature with beautiful satin sofas and armchairs. He almost felt too afraid to touch anything in fear of breaking it.

‘Just go with the suggestive comments, she’s too sweet for me to say anything against it,’ Dorcas whispered in his ear, making him shiver. He smiled down at her to show he agreed.

‘I’ll just go get your grandpapa, feel free to make yourselves at home,’ Perenelle said, and left the room in search of her husband.

‘Wait, I forgot to ask, why all the secrecy about going to see your grandfather. Surely if you just asked Dumbledore, he’d happily make arrangements for you to come and see him,’ Remus asked her quietly.

‘It’s not that big a deal. I just can’t be bothered waiting for Dumbledore to make the arrangements. It’s just easier and quicker this way,’ Dorcas replied, but she knew Remus didn’t quite believe her. His eyebrow was raised, which she rolled her eyes in response to.

‘Dorcas. Come on,’ Remus pleaded teasingly, nudging her with his elbow. The corners of her mouth picked up a little.

‘Fine! My grandfather and Dumbledore know each other very well, but my grandfather knows the hassle in getting me out of school, so he just said to find a different way out,’ Dorcas gave in.

‘So, he basically _told_ you to break the rules?’

‘Yes.’

‘Damn. You’re grandfather’s cool _and_ loaded,’ Remus chuckled, making Dorcas scoff as she watched Remus take in more of the living room.

‘He is not _loaded_ ,’ she chuckled, Remus greeting her statement with an incredulous look.

Their conversation was cut short by the door to the parlour opening and Perenelle entering along with her husband, also a very elderly man. Perenelle placed down a tray with a silver teapot and teacups while Dorcas hugged her grandfather. Remus waited, his hands laced behind his back as he waited to be addressed.

‘You must be Remus Lupin, young man. Thank you so much for bringing my granddaughter out to me today. My name is Nicolas, Nicolas Flamel,’ the elderly gentleman introduced himself, shaking Remus’s hand before sitting down in one of the satin armchairs. Remus, had to admit, he was slightly shellshocked from the revelation of Nicolas Flamel.

‘You’re _the_ Nicolas Flamel? The alchemist?’ Remus uttered in disbelief as he sat down, causing Nicolas to smile bashfully.

‘The very same,’ he said kindly with a nod. His accent wasn’t quite as powerful as his wife’s.

‘Marlene would so kill to be in my position, right now,’ Remus laughed as he leant back in his seat.

‘You really think I could have hidden the fact that Nicolas Flamel is my grandpapa from Marlene?’ Dorcas asked Remus. ‘Of course she’s met him already!’

‘And she vas a lovely, truly and inspirational young woman. Now, Remus, Dorcas ‘as told me a fair bit about you,’ Nicolas informed Remus as he poured tea for them all, Perenelle passing out biscuits. Remus tried not to show the surprise in his eyes.

‘All good, I hope,’ her joked, casting a glance to Dorcas. A light blush had scattered on her face, making him smile.

‘But of course! Tells me you’re top of ze class,’ Nicolas praised him, which Remus couldn’t quite grasp as reality. This man, between five-hundred and six-hundred years of age, had just praised him for some silly schoolwork. His school worries seemed very trivial now.

‘I do alright, I suppose,’ he replied humbly, nothing he could attain himself to possible of matching to what Nicolas had done.

‘A modest one there, Dorcas,’ Nicolas smiled warmly to his granddaughter who looked amused.

‘And ‘ow are you, lovely? You get more beautiful every time I see you,’ Perenelle fawned over her granddaughter, and Remus had to agree. Dorcas rolled her eyes playfully.

‘I am fine, grandmama, thank you. Just struggling through schoolwork,’ Dorcas replied cheerfully.

‘Ah yes, how are your OWLs going?’ Nicolas asked. Remus was surprised at the unexpectedly modern way both Nicolas and Perenelle spoke.

‘I’m finding Ancient Runes particularly hard, it’s essentially learning another language,’ Dorcas confessed.

‘I vill never understand ze Hogwarts system of OWLs. I ‘hink ze Beauxbatons system makes much more sense,’ Perenelle stated as she delicately held her teacup and saucer. Beauxbatons was one of the European academies of magic. 

‘I think you’re also a bit biased, my sweet,’ Nicolas said with amusement as he patted his wife on the knee. ‘And Ancient Runes is always a difficult subject, I agree, Dorcas.’

‘Actually, grandpapa, we think Remus found a set of your notes at Hogwarts. Why they would even be there in the first place, we’ve no idea,’ Dorcas said, greatly piquing Nicolas’s interest.

Nicolas leant forward towards Remus, who pulled out the delicate notes from his pockets and placed them in frail, old hands. He started scoping through them, his eyebrows lifting in surprises as he turned to each new folded parchment. Perenelle asked Dorcas to leave with her and help her in the kitchen, leaving the two men together. Remus was on the edge of his seat from anticipation.

‘Where did you find these, son?’ Nicolas asked once he reached the last page, running his thumb down the edge.

‘It was hidden in an old trophy at school, which I thought was a bit strange since you never went to Hogwarts. I tried to translate the Runes on them, but I couldn’t find the translation in any textbook, even the NEWTs ones,’ Remus explained eagerly as Nicolas looked on at him in fascination.

‘They are not Ancient Runes.’

Remus was taken aback by the announcement for a moment. ‘Oh.’

‘It is my own set of symbols, I invented an alphabet when I turned around two 'undred,’ Nicolas spoke casually. ‘I was working on some important projects for the British Ministry of Magic, and quite a lot of people were after my work to steal it. So, I started writing things in code.’

‘That’s incredible. So how did those notes end up in Hogwarts?’ Remus questioned, utterly captivated.

‘I asked Dumbledore to 'ide this particular set of notes, I didn’t quite trust myself to hold onto them. 'E knew nobody would be able to find them at Hogwarts, it's safer than that bank, Gringotts I think it’s called,’ Nicolas replied. Remus was hesitant to ask his next question.

‘Would you mind explaining what’s on those notes? They’ve been driving me mad for weeks, as I translated the French, but obviously none of it makes sense unless you know the symbols,’ he asked, glad that he wasn’t stupid for not being able to find the translations to the symbols. It had been driving him mad for weeks, and he was glad to have an explanation for them. Nicolas smirked at him.

‘Of course. It is, officially, still top secret government information, though many governing bodies across the world use it now. But to the public, it is still inaccessible. Anyway, it’s the theory behind the Trace.’

‘Oh, shit,’ Remus breathed, which made Nicolas chuckle.

‘Yes, it could be quite dangerous in the wrong hands. People think the Trace can only be strictly put on people under the age of seventeen, which isn’t strictly true,’ Nicolas said with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Remus frowned. ‘But, I thought it was impossible to place the charm on an adult?’

‘To place the charm _on_ an adult, yes. But that doesn’t mean one couldn’t track them,’ Nicolas said cryptically. ‘Say, one was to put a charm on a map. The charm could then mark everyone who entered and left the vicinity of the drawn area, almost perfectly to the second, allowing for a perfect step by step tracking system. Allegedly,’ Nicolas added the final word with a wink.

‘Have you ever tried in?’ Remus asked almost instantly once he’d finished, enthralled by the magical wisdom of the man in front of him.

‘Personally, no, I’ve never ‘ad any need for it. But it would be fascinating if one were to be created. I didn’t share that aspect of the charm with any governing body,’ Nicolas said, observing Remus. Remus felt as though the alchemist was peering into his mind with his piercing blue eyes.

‘That’s,’ Remus thought of a word, ‘intriguing.’

‘I could translate them for you into English if you’d like?’ Nicolas offered, surprising Remus yet again.

‘You’d trust me with those kinds of notes?’

‘Yes,’ Nicolas said eyeing Remus carefully. ‘Dorcas speaks of you highly. And I believe you are well practised in keeping a secret,’ he spoke knowingly, making Remus shift in his seat slightly.

Nicolas stood up to retrieve a quill, some parchment, and an inkpot from a small cabinet at the side of the room and returned to his seat. He moved a side table to stand in front of him and leaned against it, beginning to translate the notes he had written years and years ago as Remus watched him in awe.

‘Remus,’ Nicolas started as he continued writing the notes, ‘I can tell you are a good person. You carry a 'eavy burden, but you have never allowed it to change who you are. And you must not let it 'old you back.’

‘Thank you,’ Remus said, though with his tone, his thanks came out as more of a question than anything else. This made smile appear of Nicolas’s features.

‘Just promise me one thing. I know you mean to protect yourself, but if Dorcas ever questions you, do not lie to her. My granddaughter will stick by someone’s side through anything, so do not push her away. She would give someone in your position all the support in the world.’

‘What is my position exactly?’ Remus tested the archaic gentleman. Unbeknownst to the werewolf, this made the alchemist respect him even more. He regretted his tone slightly, worried it made him sound rude.

‘The world would be boring without a little struggle, Remus. Make sure you surround yourself with those that make it easier,’ Flamel simply replied, like a wise owl.

By the end of their visit, Nicolas handed Remus the translated notes on fresh and sturdy parchment. He’d asked to keep the ancient set, to add to his collection, which Remus had, of course, agreed to. He had no need for it now anyway, with his own set. He was still astonished that Flamel had entrusted him with such information. It was almost like he could peer into Remus’s mind, finding all the stuff he and the Marauders had been planning and all their secrets. If there was one person he’d be willing to share it with, it would be Flamel. Although he hadn’t told Nicolas he was a werewolf, Rems knew he knew. It was the first time he’d not even felt slightly nervous about someone finding out.

‘I think Nicolas Flamel has taken a shining to you, Lupin, I’ve never seen him so interested in someone my age before’ Dorcas teased as they left the townhouse and headed back to the cathedral to go back to Hogwarts. Remus had planned for them to grab a bite to eat at The Quill Tavern, he had been craving one of Heron’s burgers ever since he never managed to get one for lunch during the Hogsmeade weekend.

‘Oh, stop, I still feel bad about not paying for lunch, but he was so adamantly against it,’ Remus chuckled, facepalming at the memory of his protests being rejected.

‘Your face was priceless!’ Dorcas laughed, while Remus mockingly scowled. ‘I swear grandmama wanted to hit you over the head with her glasses case for being so stubborn.’

‘Shush, you!’ Remus said coyly, only making Dorcas snigger even more. ‘I always knew I’d end up being an idiot in Paris.’

‘That’s a first, Remus Lupin being an idiot.’

‘Oh, I’ve been an idiot more times than you can count on all ten fingers and ten toes,’ Remus replied in a self-deprecating manner, Dorcas’s response being a look of disbelief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter isn't Blackinnon focused after the Blackinnon Readathon that went on during the weekend, but I hope you like it all the same. It was one of the more intricate chapters I've written and Nicolas Flamel fascinates me, so I had to include our favourite alchemist somewhere in this fic! :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	17. Chaser

‘Now, repeat after me.’

‘Now, repeat after me,’ James echoed in Transfiguration, McGonagall sending him a death glare.

‘Potter, behave.’

‘Potter, behave,’ James parroted, slapping his wrist mockingly.

‘Is he serious?’ McGonagall directed the question to Peter, who was sitting next to James. Peter sent her a bewildered look.

‘No, that’s James,’ Peter said, pointing to his friend, leading to smoke emitting from McGonagall’s ears as she took a controlled breath, forcing herself to not rip the boys’ heads off.

‘Surely you should know which one of us is which, Professor, it’s only been, what, almost four and a half years,’ Sirius said teasingly, testing McGonagall’s patience.

‘I assume you realise that this kind of idiocy will not be tolerated in my classroom,’ McGonagall threatened, growing irritated at the giggles that were circulating the classroom at the unfolding scene.

‘Is there another type of idiocy you would be more comfortable with, Minnie?’ Sirius asked innocently as he watched the fire continue to grow in the wiry Scottish woman’s eyes. He liked them feisty.

‘Mr Black, I hope you’re enjoying this opportunity to show off to your classmates. Detention. You’ll receive details about it later,’ McGonagall announced to him, not appreciating his responding sniggers.

‘The more time I get to spend with you, Minnie, the happier I’ll be,’ Sirius laughed, raising his hands to lace them behind his head.

‘And for the last time, stop calling me that.’

By now, the concentration of most of the class was gone, and McGonagall herself had lost where she was heading with her lesson, and what her initial repetition for them all was. She could normally get a class back in focus quite quickly, but even she today, was a bit dazed. It wasn’t often that she headed to The Three Broomsticks on a school night, but she had felt rather melancholy the day before, and the pub place was a good place to go for storytelling. She had stayed out later than she’d meant to, resulting in her tiredness today.

She told her class to take notes on the topic she’d written on the blackboard in pristine white chalk as well as use their textbook. She sat behind her desk and felt the eyes of confusion on her, but the students picked up their quills and got to work.

Marlene, who was sat on her own at a desk this particular day, looked up from her note taking to see the wise witch with her head in her hands, as though taking a deep sigh. McGonagall could feel Marlene’s eye on her. She was the first to admit the young witch was incredibly perceptive, and perhaps it was the wrong decision not making her a Prefect. She would have caught troublemakers up in a snatch. But it was her father, Marcus McKinnon, who had personally requested for Marlene not be given any position this year.

Truthfully, McGonagall had also headed to the pub to avoid another meeting of Dumbledore’s. She had nothing but respect for the wizard, but she had rather had enough of him repeating his various plans over the past few weeks. She also wasn’t agreeing with many of his decisions. Many of his wanted recruits were only children.

She looked over to see James Potter hurriedly scribbling away, actually working. Whenever they sent her over the edge, those boys would always make it up to her by then working extra hard in class. She’d be the last to admit she was fond of them.

She thought back to the previous night, where she met a group of Goblins and a few Curse-Breakers from Gringotts. One Goblin had a little too much to drink and to the dismay of others, had started revealing that Rodolphus Lestrange had come in that day to access his vault. He left in the vault an exquisite gold cup, adorned with two handles. The other goblins soon shut him up and McGonagall was glad. She was there for interesting stories, not some Gringotts drop offs.

She looked over again and saw James playing with that damned Golden Snitch of his. Before she could open her mouth to tell him off, the bell rang, signalling the end of class and the students all started filing out. She watched them go, shouting a reminder to study and took a note down of the fact that Alice Fortescue had not attended the lesson. She would chase her up about it later, but for now, all she wanted was to retire to her chambers for a nap.

None of Alice’s friends, if they wanted to, could have found her at that moment in time. She wasn’t in a place any of them, or so she thought, would have expected her to be. She was currently lying naked in Frank Longbottom’s bed with her head on his chest, enjoying her newfound age of sixteen. Frank had his arm around her, pulling her into him as she entwined their legs, giggling at some joke he just told.

‘You tossed my pants all the way to the other side of the room, you idiot,’ she laughed as she drew circles into her boyfriend’s chest with a finger.

‘They offended me,’ Frank replied sleepily a he kissed the top of her head, snuggling into her more.

‘Offended you?’ she inquired, lifting her head to look up at him slightly.

‘They got in the way, the bastards.’

Frank and Alice had spent the last period of the day in his bed together. He, as a sixth year, now had free periods over the week and Alice was willing to skip the occasional lesson, especially this particular one. It was the one where his other three dorm mates, Josh Soots, Edward Tate, and Alice’s brother Lewis, were all out at lessons. They didn’t worry about Alice overstaying her welcome and the boys finding out either as Edward and Lewis had Quidditch practice straight after school and Josh, Frank’s best friend, already knew about them. So they lay there, with the four poster bed curtains wide open, the outdoor light tickling their skin. Even this arrangement for Alice was a bit risky. She would be mortified, if for any reason, her brother was to catch them.

‘Would you rather live in a flat or a house when you leave to live on your own?’ Frank asked randomly. It was one of Alice’s favourite things about him. It was almost like being with a non-stop party game, him asking questions out of the blue.

‘A flat, for sure. I want to live in a city, I’d be bored out of my mind anywhere in the countryside,’ Alice replied, making Frank chuckle.

‘Oh, I know, Gem,’ Frank taunted her, lightly jabbing her ribs. ‘You and bored is not a good combination.’

‘Why be bored when you can go have fun instead,’ Alice whined adorably, according to Frank, nuzzling her face into his neck and he pulled her even close, if it was even possible.

‘We’ll buy a big flat, with huge windows and a massive bookshelf so you’re never bored,’ he smiled down at her. She looked back up at him, cupped his face with her hand and pulled him in for a kiss.

Alice never did much gently, and kissing was no different. She pressed her lips to his, passionately, as though she was pouring her soul and everything she had into it. Frank lifted himself up onto his elbow slightly to hover over her as she now ran her hands down his lean but muscular back. Frank shifted his leg in between hers, making her gasp slightly. Neither of them heard the door open.

‘What the fuck?’ and amused voice called out to them and their lips parted, Frank’s head hanging down next to hers as the realisation seeped in that at least one person had caught them.

‘Fuck,’ Frank groaned quietly in Alice’s ear. He pushed himself back away from her to view whoever was standing at the entrance to the dormitory. ‘Well close the fucking door then, you prick!’

With a gleeful look on his face, Edward Tate stepped into the room, closing the wooden door behind him as Alice ensured she was covered up by Frank’s covers which slipped slightly as he sat up. She was normally completely unashamed of showing her body, but in this scenario she was more precarious.

‘Oh. _Shit_ ,’ Edward taunted with a grin as his eyes fell on the girl who his mate was actually in bed with. ‘We knew you were seeing someone, but _damn_ , you went for the sister!’

‘Shut up,’ Frank grunted, running a hand through his messy dark hair. He didn’t need to be reminded of that fact.

‘Lewis is going to fuck you up when he finds out,’ Edward snickered before finally addressing Alice directly. ‘Hey Al.’

‘Hi,’ she replied, pissed at his intrusion, and how delighted he appeared to be with the current situation.

‘I thought you were supposed to be at practice the now?’ Frank stated more than asked, still shooting Edward daggers at his overjoyed behaviour.

‘I forgot my kit today, and thank god I did, ‘cause I walked in on this,’ Edward said triumphantly. He picked up a slim red bra that somehow ended up on his bed between his fingers. ‘Al, I think this is yours. Never took you as a red gal.’

‘You are such a twat,’ Frank growled as he grabbed it out of a laughing Edward’s hand and handed it to Alice who quickly hid it under the covers.

‘So I’m guessing no one knows,’ Edward stated, earning an eye roll from Frank. ‘Bold, _bold_ move, Longbottom, to go for the sister. How long are you thinking you can go before you tell, or, inevitably, Lewis finds out?’ he poised the question to both of them.

‘We hadn’t gotten that far yet,’ Alice mumbled, skilfully managing to put on and clasp her bra without exposing herself.

‘Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?’

‘Yes!’ both Alice and Frank replied as Frank went to collect Alice’s pants for her to put on after he squirmed into his boxers.

‘This is fucking gold!’ Edward sniggered, Alice sending him her middle finger.

‘Pipe down, arsehole,’ she said, starting to recover from the shock and regain her biting confidence. However, it was shot straight back down.

‘You know, it’s kind of my responsibility, as Lewis’s friend, to let him know about this little arrangement you two have going on here,’ Edward tease, making the couple’s eyes in front of him grow wide with fear.

‘You fucking dare,’ Frank snarled.

‘Edward, please, don’t be a dick,’ Alice pleaded, knowing that if her brother were to find out like that, Frank would end up being knocked out in ten seconds flat. Her brother was a strong lad.

‘Unless, in return for my silence, you could do something for me,’ Edward suggested with a sly grin.

‘So, you’re bribing us,’ Frank huffed, leaning back against the headboard, but Edward shook his head.

‘Not so much you, Franky boy, as your little girlfriend,’ Edward, corrected, gesturing at Alice. She frowned.

‘What in Merlin’s name would you want from me?’

‘Chat me up to McKinnon,’ Edward declared, folding his arms as Alice was taken aback in shock.

‘As in Marlene?’ she asked in disbelief, Edward nodding in response.

‘Yeah, the girl’s fit and I know she’s not seeing anyone, plus she’s a right laugh,’ Edward listed his points, Alice still with a look of confusion on her face.

‘How do you know she’s not seeing anyone?’ Alice asked, genuinely interested in his response, as to most people, Marlene’s love life was a closed book, poisonous if you tried to open it.

‘‘Cause I slept with her the night of the Quidditch match party.’

‘ _Oh_ ,’ Alice said, puzzles pieces fitting together in her mind. ‘So _that’s_ how she got the hickeys!’

‘She had hickeys?’

‘Yeah, a fair few as well. You went to town on her,’ Alice laughed, tying her long hair in a ponytail. ‘What are you wanting me to say to her?’

‘Get me a date with her and we’re good,’ Edward clarified as he grabbed his Quidditch uniform, getting ready to leave.

‘And what if she can’t get Marlene to agree to that?’ Frank asked, placing his arm around Alice’s waist.

‘Then I want McKinnon to come up to me and tell me she’s not interested. Otherwise, I tell Lewis,’ Edward let his words out into the air and left before either of the couple could object.

‘That is not a fair deal,’ Frank said as Alice was collecting her strewn pieces of clothing from around the room to get dressed.

‘I’ll make it work,’ Alice mumbled. ‘Don’t worry about it, I’m sure I can get Marlene to do something for me, I’ll just tell her I owe her.’

‘What if she figures it out, though?’

‘Marlene I can trust not to ask too many questions. She’d be a hypocrite, really, if she started asking too many,’ Alice laughed. She leant over to Frank, dressed, and gave him a quick peck. ‘See you later, yeah?’

She left her boyfriend’s dorm, a plan concocting in her mind. She decided to head to the kitchens, what with both Lily and Dorcas engaging in the Muggle Art society and Marlene at Quidditch, and she realised she was hungry. There was little elf in the kitchens as well, Fern, who always enjoyed helping out with Alice’s problems.

She let her feet lead her down in the directions of the dungeons, reaching the grand entrance of the school and made a sharp right through a wooden door to more stairs. Something alerted her and she stopped walking. The soft whimper, almost like a cry, could be heard from somewhere. It was a child’s cry, younger than herself, she was certain. Alice knew, to the right of the short stretch of hallway that lead to the following stairs, was a small doorway that opened to reveal a tiny classroom with a few bookshelves and one desk. It was such an easily missed feature of the castle that hardly any knew it was there. If anyone were to be hiding in there, it would probably be a Slytherin who surely passed it every day. But it was still a child.

Placing a hand flat against the stone of the door, another reason why it was well concealed, she pushed it open, the room dark, but the crying louder. She mumbled under her breath, the tip of her wand alighting with a soft blue light and she heard the snivelling stop.

She walked further int the room to see, against the back wall, a small Hufflepuff girl, cradling her knees, now looking up at Alice who shone the light in her eyes. The girl’s eyes were red and puffy, cheeks wet with tears. Alice could see her visibly relax as her eyes took in that she was wearing a Gryffindor tie and not one of green and silver.

‘I didn’t mean for anyone to hear me, I’m sorry,’ she sniffled softly, rubbing her eyes. The girl was clearly a first year and Alice’s heart broke a little.

‘Merlin, honey, you have nothing to apologise for. What’s the matter?’ Alice asked, instantly moving herself to sit next to the child and put her arm around her. The little girl snuggled into Alice’s embrace, trusting her instantly. Although Alice knew that this kind of trust was not safe, she knew not to give the little girl anymore grief. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Michelle,’ she whimpered. Alice noticed her playing with her fingers.

‘Who’s upset you, Michelle?’ Alice questioned.

‘I don’t want to burden you or cause any trouble.’

‘Nonsense, it’s not any trouble at all! Tell me, if you want, I’d like to help,’ Alice convinced her, pulling her tighter into a hug, which she could feel Michelle appreciate. She was relaxing more and more into Alice.

‘My sister was taken.’

‘Taken?’

‘Kidnapped. A few days ago. She’s only four years old, and she’s out there, all alone, we can’t find her, _they_ can’t!’ with each word Michelle spoke, her sobs grew more and more hysterical until she was weeping again, into Alice’s shirt. Alice didn’t even notice. The news of a four year old being kidnapped. It was horrific.

‘What do you mean by “they”,’ Alice questioned, stroking the young girls hair, holding her close. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was going through.

‘The police. They say they’re doing everything they can, but I don’t think so. And I wasn’t there, I wasn’t there to protect my own sister! It happens the second I go off to school, it’s like I’m being punished for leaving,’ Michelle bawled, and Alice was growing fearful of just how much help she would actually end up being.

‘Michelle, there is nothing you could have done to prevent this, it is not your fault,’ Alice spoke firmly, giving the child a soft kiss at the top of her head to comfort her.

‘I could’ve! If I was just a year younger, I could do magic before I knew about it! I could have used it against those people who came in. They had wands, my mum told me, they blasted the door down. She said they were dressed in black with cloaks and they stopped her from stopping them. My dad was at work so he couldn’t help, and they took my baby sister!’ Michelle wailed, while Alice attempted to say soothing things into her ear.

Alice felt unsettled. And scared. An uncomfortable feeling had gathered in the pit of her stomach. She had heard the stories, most of the wizarding world had. The men dressed in black cloaks who entered houses and did unspeakable things. It was unsure whether the stories were growing in popularity or whether there were simply more incidences.

‘Are you a Muggle-born, Michelle?’ Alice asked tentatively, praying for the little girl to say no, although she was positive she knew the answer to the question already. The little girl nodded her head and Alice’s heart sank.

‘I could have saved her,’ Michelle sniffed. Alice couldn’t bear to listen to those pained words anymore and looked down at the small Hufflepuff.

‘Michelle, listen to me. Although you could do magic, there was no way it would have been strong enough to save her against those men. You didn’t even have a wand. I promise you, the Ministry will be doing everything in their power to save your sister, no question about it,’ Alice said firmly, the sobs of Michelle quietening down at her words.

‘Thank you,’ she mumbled, hugging Alice tighter. Michelle hadn’t realised how badly she needed to hear someone say that to her until they did.

‘Now, we’re going to dry your eyes and you’re going to head back to you Common Room. And I don’t want you coming back here, okay? Don’t go to the dungeons unless you’re with others and for class,’ Alice said clearly, making sure that Michelle understood her. The girl nodded and Alice handed her a tissue to clean herself up. Alice gave her a last hug before Michelle left, now only sadness etched on her face rather than tears and blotchiness and she ran off to the Hufflepuff Common Room, not looking back.

Alice slumped against the wall once she was alone, the darkness engulfing her. She ran a hand through her hair, more distressed than she had expected herself to be today. She was more terrified than she cared to admit. For once, the darkness felt like a safe haven as she sat, a staircase away from Slytherin legacies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how much I can say "I hope you enjoyed this chapter" seeing how it ended, but I do hope you all are still enjoying the fic in general. As much as this last one killed me a little bit, I'm loving writing it.  
> I made a Twitter for myself recently, just a personal one, nothing to do with writing or anything. In no way am I trying to promote my socials because, to be completely honest, I'm incredibly boring on them and don't post much, but seeing as AO3 doesn't having a dm service yet, I just thought that if any of you would like to message me privately about the fic or anything else, you can do so :) my twitter handle is @juliakmeinicke if you'd like to find me.  
> Again, thank you for all your support,  
> Love, Julia xx


	18. Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs

Remus, on his usual monthly cycle, hadn’t been in classes all afternoon. The second he’d left them at lunch, all three were on edge. It was the first night they’d be with him, and it didn’t help that Marlene suddenly started questioning James in Charms. James shared almost everything with Marlene, she was his little sister, but the fact he could now shapeshift into a huge deer had, for the moment, still remained outside their friendship. It would most probably never enter.

‘How’s Remus feeling?’ she asked as they worked on a new charm Flitwick had introduced him to. In Remus’s absence, Marlene had decided to slide into the seat next to James, offer him company.

‘Fine, why?’ James answered, more jumpily and defensively than he meant to. The blonde raised her hands in surrender.

“Cause it’s a full moon, psycho, calm down,’ Marlene answered, her tone telling him to calm down. ‘I just wanted you to tell him that I wish him my best for tonight, and to give him this.’

Marlene pulled out a small, dark coloured bottle that had a red dropper as its lid and placed it down in front of James on the desk. James picked it up and flipped it round in his hand so he could read the label to see the bottle bore the word _Dittany_.

‘Dittany?’ James asked, raising his eyebrow to the blonde.

‘Remus had asked me if there was any way I could get some for the next full moon and I only just managed to sneak into Slughorn’s supply cupboard. I’m guessing it’s for him to heal some stuff quicker before he heads up to the Hospital wing in the mornings,’ Marlene explained, as she played with her wand, the fact they were meant to be practicing spells lay forgotten.

‘Why didn’t he ask one of us boys to get it?’ James asked, which made Marlene roll her eyes.

‘I suppose he just want it done quickly. You know that you three have the tendency to make a big song and dance about the smallest things,’ she replied coolly. James could tell Marlene was pissed of at him for being so short with her.

‘We don’t make a song and dance about _everything._ We could have snuck in to Slughorn’s supplies in a flash,’ James emphasised, pocketing the small bottle, and picked up his wand to work again.

‘Maybe he wanted to prevent you from getting another detention, just in case you were caught,’ Marlene offered her hypothesis for Remus’s actions.

‘We’d never get caught for something that stupid,’ James argued, making Marlene huff in frustration.

‘Well, why don’t you ask him, then? He’s your fucking friend, I’m just a messenger. And you’re not the only one who knows and cares about Remus’s furry little problem, so fucking cool it,’ Marlene snapped and started gathering up her classwork.

‘Marls, wait –’ James said regretfully, realising he’d been rather harsh, but Marlene stood up to move.

‘Nah, come talk to me once you’re off your man period. Until then, I’m not interested,’ she announced and walked over to a different table, leaving James to push his glasses aside and rub his eyes. He and Marlene were siblings in every way other than blood, which meant they bickered like it, but he never meant to intentionally upset her. No matter, he’d deal with her later. He wasn’t quite up for melodrama this particular day.

While the sun was busy disappearing just over the horizon, the messy haired, bespectacled boy was busy ensuring that the first aid kit the four of them had put together was equipped with almost all the necessary supplies they needed for their early morning return. James fished the dittany out of his pocket that Marlene had handed him and dropped it into the wooden box where they agreed to keep everything.

They had practiced a few healing spells, but they hadn’t quite mastered them yet. The small number of healing supplies they’d collected over the past few weeks was their best bet as they couldn’t take themselves to the Hospital Wing with their injuries for it would be far too suspicious. James silently commended Remus for thinking of the dittany for them. It was one of those helpful little concoctions that one often forgot about but was the most helpful.

In reality, it would be mostly James and Sirius that would be using the supplies from the little box. Peter, being a rat, couldn’t really help much against a werewolf, other than provide distraction, from which he could hide in the smallest crevices anyhow. It was the stag and the dog who would be placed on the front line against the bared-tooth werewolf.

‘He’s already down there and the sun’s almost set, we need to get a move on,’ Sirius spoke suddenly, breaking the quiet of the dorm. He seemed anxious, pacing up and down the room, occasionally running his hands through his dark, short hair.

‘Pads, calm it,’ James said, his voice coming out much steadier than he expected it to. For once, he did feel that he had to be the calm one, despite how on edge he was feeling. Remus wasn’t there to do that role.

‘What if something bad happens tonight, Prongs? What if he can tell we’re human?’ Sirius voiced the thought nobody had wanted to think about as he finally sat down on his bed, although his leg was still jittering.

‘They’re not the brightest of creatures when they’re transformed. I really don’t think there’ll be a problem in Remus thinking we’re not animals,’ Peter chipped in, his tone surprisingly comforting, but Sirius wasn’t convinced.

‘Then what would there be a problem with?’ Sirius bit back, too nervous to worry about his nippy attitude.

‘Getting Moony to trust us. That’s the difficult part,’ Peter spoke wisely. He had done a thorough amount of research on how werewolves behaved around animals, and they all came to the same basic conclusion. The paranoid trust of a werewolf seemed to translate in both their human form and wolf form.

‘And if he doesn’t trust us and starts to attack?’ Sirius questioned, struggling to feel consoled by Peter’s words, despite the kindness in which he said them.

‘Then we get the hell out of there,’ James stated. 

They wrapped up in their jackets to protect them from the November chill and threw the invisibility cloak around them. It was still a tight squeeze to fit them all under it, even without Remus with them. They carefully manoeuvred their way down the staircase and through the Common Room which was still fairly packed. They had decided to leave under the cloak to avoid being asked questions, through trying to avoid bumping into anyone proved to be a tricky affair. From the corner of his eye, James spotted the fiery red hair of Lily, who was curled up in an armchair reading a book. A small smile crept onto his face.

They managed to get out through the portrait hole and reached the courtyard without stirring up attention, though James and Sirius did have to pull Peter back from almost stepping through a trick step on one of the staircases. He always forgot. They reached the courtyard in one piece, where, in the darkness of the moon, they felt safe enough to take of the cloak. In a now more comfortable fashion, they jogged towards the Whomping Willow with the cloak tucked under James’s arm.

They stood in front of the Whomping Willow, a few metres away so as to not be attacked by its flailing branches. James nodded to Peter, who disappeared before his eyes, and in his place, stood a grey rat with a long, pink tail. Instantly, the rat scurried away from the two remaining boys and in the secrecy of the nights shadows, made its way past the dangerous branches of the willows, in search of a specific knot on one of the limbs that would halt the hostile waving of the tree. 

Peter skilfully reached out a pink hand as he found the knot he was looking for and pressed it, almost shocked at the instant reaction of the tree to stop its movements. Quickly, he scampered back down the curves of the willow and reached the ground to be greeted with a big black dog and James. He ran and climbed on the back of the fluffy dog, Sirius welcoming the passenger. Sirius headed down the tunnel that lead to the Shrieking Shack and started at the opening of the Whomping Willow, James only a few steps behind him.

James stood at the small entrance, holding the cloak in both his hands. He neatly folded it and tucked it away into the side of the entrance so they could easily grab it on their way out. He then stepped back and took a deep breath before transforming into the majestic stag that occupied his alter ego. With a scuff of his hoof, he followed his friends down the tunnel to reach the fourth friend and reunite their group.

Ear-shattering howls could be heard from above them as they made it to the end of the tunnel, making them wince. They knew being a werewolf was painful, Remus had told them. They hadn’t expected to be such outcry’s of pain, making them think back to all the times Remus left to spend this night alone. A new surge of energy ran through them as they entered the basement of the Shrieking Shack. A source of determination and bravery.

They crept up the stairs of the Shack, as quietly as possible so not to disturb Remus, James cursing each times his hooves clapped against the floorboards. They were too preoccupied to take in their surroundings, but if they had, they would be greeted with the definition on destruction. What little was left of the wallpaper was ripped into and torn to shreds, the wooden walls behind it with chunks bitten out. The minimal furniture in the building looked as though one light tap would make it all fall apart.

The reached the third of the three storey building and Sirius pushed open the singular door there with his snout. Inside the room was grey, destroyed, with a double four-poster bed at one end, the curtains shredded. From the other end, orange, lamp-like eyes observed them. 

The eyes belonged to a giant grey wolf, the sheer size of him taking up one full corner of the tall room. The eyes held none of the kindness and gentleness that resided in Remus Lupin. Instead, the boys stood at the doorway while the wolf glared at them, though whether there was an element of surprise for him, they didn’t know. The wolf observed them haughtily while breathing heavily, recovering from its previous rampage. In a split-second, he moved.

Sirius was thrown to one side of the room, a deafening crunch could be heard as his body slammed against the wall. Sirius yelped from the impact of being thrown into the wall, feeling the anger of the wolf’s confinement in its throw. He felt himself already seeping blood as he lifted his head to see James battling the wolf with his antlers. Surely this wasn’t the way. They weren’t going to gain Remus’s trust like this. It almost seemed like Remus could tell that they weren’t fully animals. Proof that werewolves were a lot cleverer than people thought.

James had somehow managed to back Remus into a corner, the scratches Remus had provided in return already staining his coat red. He wanted to give Sirius time to compose himself. They had, of course, been expecting violence but not that of such an aggressive nature. James started to try and calm Remus in whatever way he could as Sirius limped back over. Although Remus was still being aggressive to James, he seemed to particularly want to roughhouse Sirius. Perhaps it was due to the similarity in their looks, but there was a definite target. James knew that Sirius would only take so much until he lost it and bit back.

Throughout the night, James and Sirius stuck through the many injuries inflicted on them by Remus. Peter was the lucky one who managed to wind around their feet and distract Remus when the other to direly needed it while remaining unharmed. Slowly, but surely, they started to gain the trust of the werewolf and he began to understand that they were friendly. He was still pacing around them while they panted in the early hours of the morning but was no longer attacking. Eventually, as though Remus comprehended that he had worn these new animals out and they were not a threat, he stopped circling and let out a celebratory howl. He went and lay upon the bed in the room, which had been damaged even more this night than it originally was and closed his amber eyes.

Sirius, once he was sure the wolf was out cold, sat his paw under his chest a whimpered. Remus had almost ripped it clean off at one point during the night and it hurt him to even move it. Peter came up to him and cuddled up next to his snout to offer some form of support while James looked on at him with compassionate eyes. He couldn’t change back into a human and carry Sirius out and to help in case Remus woke up and lunged at him. Sirius would have to get out on his own unless they waited for Remus to transform back into himself. He had, however, specifically asked the boys to not wait around for that, but in Sirius’s state, that scenario was looking more and more likely by the second.

They couldn’t deny that they were a little terrified. Their friend, their rational, diligent, caring friend, turned into a raging creature simply from a few rays of moonlight touching him. Their friend tore himself up every month, lost his sanity, and had been doing so ever since the age of four. There’s was a new-found respect and appreciation of the boys for their sandy haired friend.

Remus lay, curled in a ball on the bed, and for the first time felt content as a werewolf. A feeling he didn’t understand yet, but he didn’t feel the need to bite or scratch himself at all. He felt in control, he could control them, the three animals in the room with him. He was the strongest. He was proud.

James started to become aware of a few gashes that, now the adrenaline was dissipating, were coming to the surface of his pain level. He didn’t want to look at them just quite yet. It had been a bloody night and had seen too much of his mates blood to bear as an eyewitness for his own.

Laying his heavy head of antlers on the floor, James saw a crack of light coming through one of the boarded up windows of the Shrieking Shack. He let out a rumbling sigh of relief as he knew Remus would be transforming soon. He glanced back at Sirius, who had shrunk into himself even further. For a huge, black dog, he was able to make himself look like a puppy. He truly had gotten the worst battering of them all. James’s time of rest had allowed him to think over why Sirius was such a target.

Sirius’s Animagus form was possibly one of the worst he could be, without being an actual wolf. The distinction between his form and a wolf were close to none. It triggered the hardwire in Remus to attack and prove he was the strongest, the boldest and the best against Sirius. It wasn’t difficult to overpower the dog as Sirius didn’t have the strength in his form to overcome a nearly fully grown, full mooned werewolf.

Remus started yowling, making them all pay attention to him. He writhed on the bed, dropping to the floor, arms and legs straining. The boys looked on helplessly, unable to comfort him in any way and it killed them. To watch their best friend struggle in pain, tortured by their own demise was one of the worst things a person could experience.

Before long, there lay human Remus, breathing shallowly and recovering. Without meaning to, Peter felt himself grow in size and transform back into a human, Sirius’s dog head in his lap. He petted his friend, careful not to touch anywhere too painful. He watched as Remus sat up, clutching his stomach from where James probably prodded him his antlers, another hand in his hair. When he opened his eyes, the hand dropped.

‘Fuck.’

Remus took in the scene in front of him in horror, his breath going shallow again. He was scared. He couldn’t remember and it scared him. Sirius was whimpering, James had deep cuts through him. And Peter … Peter was looking at him like he didn’t know him.

‘You okay, Moony?’ Peter asked gently, but Remus knew he didn’t deserve that tone or respect. Not after what he’d don’t to his friends.

‘This is never happening again,’ Remus uttered horrified at himself.

‘Shut the fuck up,’ James said suddenly. Remus hadn’t even noticed he had changed back from his Animagi form.

‘You’re fucking lying to yourself if you think you lot are doing this again. This was such a mistake,’ Remus started to panic as he continued looking around the room, seeing the blood spilt.

‘You think after what we’ve seen we’re ever going to let you go through this on your own again? You’re delusional if you do. We watched you rip yourself apart tonight and if you think that we’d let you do that, you’re insane. We’d rather you ripped chunks of our flesh and blood out, just so you don’t do it to yourself, and you know why? Because we’re brothers. No matter what, we’re brothers. We’ve seen you at your worst now, mate, and if you think that means we’re running for the hills, you don’t know us at all,’ James shut Remus up, a certain anger in his voice none of them had quite heard before. Remus didn’t dare argue.

His eyes went back to Sirius, who still laid with his eyes close, as though he was asleep. He couldn’t even express what a monster he felt like, how evil. _He_ did that. He caused such pain.

‘You better start heading to the Hospital Wing. We’ll get out later and come see you. Keep safe Moony,’ James said, offering Remus a fist bump as he started to wordlessly leave the room. He returned it, but it felt wrong. So wrong.

James sat with Peter, who continued cradling Sirius in his dog form. James wished he had thought to stash the bottle of dittany in his pocket to ease Sirius’s suffering. He would _have_ to go to Madam Pomfrey at some point this morning with the broken wrist, for neither Peter nor James could say they knew the correct way to heal a broken bone, fearing they’d hurt him even more.

James grabbed his glasses out his pocket and shared a look with Peter. Despite everything they’d just been through, they smiled at each other.

‘We’re kind of cool, you know,’ Peter breathed with a light laugh, continuing to pet Sirius. James returned the laugh as he fished his glasses out his pocket and stuck them on.

‘My eyesight’s so much better as a deer,’ he mumbled jokingly, his distorted vision clear again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yooo, how you lot doing, I hope you're doing well! I hope you enjoyed the chapter :) I find these kinds of chapter more of a challenge to write as they rely more on descriptive writing than having people talk, but I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I do hope you're still enjoying this story and keep an eye out for the next chapter, it's one of my favourites, if I do say so myself ;) ahaha  
> Love, Julia xx


	19. The Strawberry Development

‘The Slug Club Christmas party date is out. It’s on Saturday,’ Lily announced as she sat down for lunch, dropping her bag next to her feet as her news was met by a groan from Marlene.

‘What’s so bad about Sluggy’s party?’ Dorcas asked as she viewed Marlene, who now had her head in her hands, wavy blonde curls now a mess.

‘It means “pick a date” time!’ Marlene cheered sarcastically, rolling her eyes. ‘Why did I _ever_ agree to be part of that stupid club?’

‘Because you’re amazing at Potions and Sluggy basically gave you no choice in the matter. I mean, come on Marls, you’re planning on taking Alchemy for NEWTs, for Merlin’s sake,’ Lily chuckled and took a bite of the mashed potato on her plate.

‘My grandfather will be very pleased with you for that,’ Dorcas raised her brows playfully.

‘It was a rhetorical question, but thank you for your input, much love,’ Marlene scowled at them, making the girls laugh.

‘Anyway, it’s not exactly hard for you to find a date,’ Alice said as she scribbled on a piece of last minute homework. ‘Boys are always falling at your feet.’

‘And you get to dress up,’ Dorcas chipped in with a grim. ‘I loved the makeover we gave you two last year.’

‘I don’t even know who I’d pick to go with me, let alone actually _want_ to go with,’ Marlene mumbled as she played with her food.

‘What about Edward?’ Alice asked, catching the perfect opportunity to slip the Gryffindor Chaser into conversation.

‘ _Edward_ Edward?’ Marlene asked, looking up at her.

‘Oh, he’s cute, and he’d look mighty fine in dress robes,’ Dorcas winked at her. Marlene wrinkled her nose.

‘Nah, in all honesty, I don’t even know if I’m going to go. If I do, I might just go stag,’ Marlene laughed, Lily putting her hand on Marlene’s arm.

‘You _have_ to go, you can’t let me go on my own!’ Lily accentuated. ‘Besides, this is the perfect opportunity for you to wear that red dress you bought when we went shopping over the summer.’

‘The sexy one?’ Alice grinned slyly, the mention of clothes greatly piquing her interest.

‘Yes, the sexy one,’ Lily winked.

‘It’s fucking freezing outside, and you expect me to wear _that_ dress,’ Marlene laughed, even though she had already been planning to wear that dress if she decided to go to the party.

‘Show the boys what they’re missing,’ Dorcas said teasingly, Marlene shaking her head in amusement.

‘What about you, Lils, who’s your hot date going to be?’ Alice asked with exaggeration.

‘We all know who she’d _love_ to invite,’ Marlene bumped Lily’s shoulder, the redhead rolling her eyes at them.

‘A certain dreamboat named Prewett, maybe?’ Dorcas chimed in tauntingly.

‘You three are evil, you know that,’ Lily shoved Marlene to stop her bumping into her shoulder. ‘He’s with Emmeline, and I need a proper date.’

‘Ugh, forget the date, what are you going to wear?’ Dorcas said flippantly but leaning on the table in interest of hearing Lily’s fashion choices.

‘I say something green, you look gorgeous in green with your hair!’ Marlene gushed. ‘And it brings out your eyes.’

‘ _No_ , no more green, the leprechaun jokes got old about ten years ago,’ Lily moaned, thinking of all the green items of clothing she owned because her mum though the suited her brilliantly.

‘What about a midnight blue kind of colour,’ Alice offered, Lily nodding in content at the option.

‘I’m not mad at that idea,’ Lily laughed.

A little way down the Gryffindor table sat James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, also planning the debacle that was Slughorn’s Christmas party. At least one of them had always managed to score a way in every year, despite not being members of the Slug Club.

‘I reckon I could convince McKinnon to take me this year,’ Sirius stated as he tucked into his steak and kidney pie.

‘Yeah, ‘cause that’s what you do, _convince_ a girl to take you rather than let her decide,’ Remus snorted at his womaniser friend who sneered in return.

‘I’m pretty sure Marlene would rather go alone than go with you, any day,’ Peter snorted, Sirius putting a hand on his heart mockingly as a result.

‘I could get McKinnon to go with me, just you wait,’ he declared, his brain whizzing with possibilities already.

‘Who’re you planning on taking, Prongs?’ Peter asked, and James turned to look at him with a smile.

‘Oh, please, he’s just going to ask Evans a million times, and when it gets close enough to the date, he’ll panic and settle for someone else,’ Sirius mocked.

‘Yeah, ‘cause you have so much moral high ground to stand on,’ Remus chimed in retort.

‘Shut up.’

‘ _Actually,_ I have my eye on someone and it’s not Evans,’ James unveiled sending them all into a momentary state of shock that they had not been prepared for in the middle of the day.

‘Who?’ Sirius asked, dumbfounded from such an announcement from his best friend. James Potter not going after Lily during such an occasion like this was certainly a tale for the ages.

‘You’ll find out. Haven’t asked her yet but I’m planning to today,’ James said smugly, finding the stunned faces of his friends quite hilarious.

‘All I’m saying is, this girl better not get in the way of the prank we have planned,’ Sirius sighed.

‘At least I know I’ll actually have a chance of getting in and actually doing the prank. If you want that chance, you better start looking for dates in places other than my sister, ‘cause there is no chance you’ll be able to get her to take you,’ James hollered, making Remus and Peter laugh while Sirius scowled at them.

‘I could get her to agree, just got to charm my way through,’ Sirius frowned as the boys scoffed.

The bell which publicised that lunch was over rang and everyone in the Great Hall started to file their way out. Marlene started making her way up to Arithmancy, one of her favourite classes that she was taking. She walked to the first floor classroom, her eyes engaged in one of the complicated number charts that they were going to use in today’s lesson and her copy of _Numerology and Grammatica_ tucked under her arm.

‘Oi, McKinnon! Wait up!’ a voice yelled for her. She looked behind to see Sirius pushing his way through students to catch up with her. She stopped, rolling her eyes as she turned to face him.

‘What d’you want?’ she asked, tapping her foot slightly as she’d rather not be late for her Arithmancy lesson where the Professor was strict.

‘You, me, Slug’s, you in?’ he asked her shortly, grinning down at her. She stared at him in disbelief for a second before bursting out into laughter, rendering the tall boy in front of her confused.

‘Oh, Merlin, you’re cute,’ she managed to breath out towards the end and shaking her head she turned around to keep walking to her class, but Sirius’s strong hand caught her arm and twirled her back to face him.

‘I have no idea if that means yes or no,’ he told her, forehead creased in a frown. Marlene struggled not to laugh again.

‘Believe me, Black, you’re going to have to try a lot harder if you’re going to want to take a self-respecting girl to the party. And even then, I think she’d lose any self-respect if she _did_ take you,’ Marlene said, reaching up and hand to pat his cheek patronisingly. Sirius rolled his eyes at her words and assumed his usual smirk.

‘C’mon, McKinnon, you know Slug’s shit show will be no fun without me and James there, you can help us make it more exciting,’ he smouldered, in attempt to allure to her humorous side, but Marlene was having none of it.

‘Mate, I know you and James are planning some sort of ridiculous prank, and you go do that, but there is no way I am giving you the satisfaction of accompanying me to the party. You’d have to get down on your knees and beg, and I know you’re not going to do that,’ she teased breathily.

‘What if I got you your favourite coffee from Hogsmeade next time we go. We can make a little date of it,’ he winked jokily, trying to entice her, but she just chuckled at him.

‘Oh, Black. I like my coffee how I like myself. Dark, bitter and too hot for you,’ she smiled and whipped herself back around to go to the class she was now late for, leaving Sirius alone in the hallway, smirking at her disappearing figure.

The final Prefect meeting of the year, at least to Remus, felt like it was going on for hours when in reality, he had probably only been sat listening the Prefect team’s problems for around half an hour. James had agreed to meet him at the end of the conference, but Remus knew that this was James’s cover story for another plan he had in mind. A certain plan to beguile a redheaded girl.

The meeting ended and Remus rushed out first to meet James before the messy haired boys plan went into action. Remus wished James good luck and then headed off in the direction of the dormitories, smirking to himself at the workings of James’s plans. A swish of red hair and blue eyes met James’s soft brown ones, and he sent a two fingered wave to the girl.

‘I’ll catch you up later, Char,’ he heard her say softly and while meeting his eyes again, she began walking over to him much to his delight. ‘Hey, James,’ she said to him as she approached him, her head slightly tilted to the side.

‘Hey,’ he responded, leaning against the wall in his attempts to act cool. ‘How you doin’?’

‘I’m alright. I don’t think I actually ended up thanking you for taking Charlotte’s place for duties that night. Basically, thanks for not abandoning me, even though you’re not a Prefect,’ she breathed out a laugh, flicking her hair out her face.

‘S’no problem, really. I had just wanted to make sure you were alright, the castle can play to the bad parts of your imagination at night. And I was a bit bored,’ James replied, crossing his arms over his chest and laughing at the last addition of his words.

He had accidentally ran into her while she was doing the nightly Prefect duty and he had wanted to go to the kitchens for a snack. She was about to give him a detention when he came up with the story that someone had told him she’d be walking alone throughout the castle and he’d come to check up on her. She had somehow bought the story and allowed him to accompany her around the school despite never speaking to him before, except the occasional “sorry” in class. They had ended up having a few nice chats as a result.

‘I couldn’t imagine you ever being bored,’ she queried, her eyes searching his. They were a brilliant, bright blue, unlike those of Marlene which had more of a dark, mysterious edge to them. Her eyes were like the blue of her tie, as though they held the knowledge of the world. Nothing was hidden in eyes like that.

‘Blue eyes and red hair. That’s unique,’ James hushed as he drank her in.

‘Strawberry blonde, really,’ she corrected him quickly, like a cat. She probably owned one.

‘You two,’ the Head Boy butted in as he exited the Great Hall last, ‘get back to your Common Rooms, it’s almost curfew.’

‘Sorry, Archie, we’re just on our way,’ the strawberry blonde girl said, looking back at James and motioning that they should leave. Just as they were about to take on the first step of the staircase, Archie called out to him.

‘Potter!’ he yelled, taking his tie off from around his neck and bundling it in his hand. ‘Tell that friend of yours, McKinnon, that I’m looking for her. She should come find me.’

‘Why?’ James asked, his eyes narrowing on the Head Boy.

‘Not that it bothers you, my lad, but we’re both in the Slug Club. I was wondering if she wanted to be my date,’ Archie smirked. ‘Catch you later,’ and he disappeared round a corner.

‘Walk me back?’ his head turned to look back at his strawberry blonde company, taking his mind of the Head boy.

‘Am I allowed to know where the Ravenclaw Common Room is?’ James asked playfully as they headed up the stairs, the soft candlelight leading their way.

‘I doubt you’d be able to get in anyway,’ she said cryptically, walking backwards up the steps so she could look at him. James raised a brow.

‘How so?’ James pushed her for an answer, smirking up to her as her eyes sparkled back at him.

‘We Ravenclaw’s have a few tricks up our sleeves. You’re not the only one with a mind for elaborate things,’ she challenged him, turning back around to walk up the stairs normally. His mind whizzing, James skipped a few steps to catch up with and walk with her. They soon reached a spiral staircase on the fifth floor where she turned around and faced him.

‘This you?’

‘This is me,’ she confirmed, smiling brightly.

‘Not leading me any further?’ he asked suggestively, and she scoffed genially.

‘No. There’s some things you don’t need to see yet,’ she answered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. ‘I’ll see you later,’ she bid him melodically and began making her way up the stairs. James bit him lip and urged himself to stop being a coward.

‘Genevieve,’ he called up to her, causing her to halt and turn. ‘If you’d like, and if you’d let me, I’d love to take you to the Slug Club Christmas party, as your date,’ he rambled.

She smiled. It was a smile that lay somewhere between smugness and flattery. ‘I would love to,’ she said happily and shot him a wink. ‘See you Saturday.’

James, on Saturday evening, was dressed in midnight blue robes with a white shirt underneath and had tamed his hair as much as his genes would let him. He scuffed his shoe slightly as he waited for Genevieve at the bottom of the spiral staircase, his stomach lurching a little bit.

She appeared suddenly, walking down the stairs in a beautiful, flowing, pale blue dress, making her look positively ethereal and delicate. James couldn’t stop his breath from hitching slightly as he gazed up at her, noticing the magical snowflakes that adorned her soft hair like a tiara, twinkling in the light.

‘You look,’ he exhaled, pausing before he finished his sentence, ‘amazing.’

‘You clean up nice yourself, Potter,’ she complimented him, sending a wink while also shamelessly admiring him. Her eyes fell on his tie and she smiled. ‘Just one little added touch.’

Genevieve pulled out her wand from a hidden pocket in her dress and tapped the tie that was wrapped around James’s neck. The dark blue colour from it dissolved, and it its place was the same light blue colour of her dress to match them.

‘Cute trick,’ James said, smirking at her, although he had rather liked the deep blue.

‘It helps in these cases. I wanted us to look like a proper match,’ she giggled, taking his hand, and curling it around her waist. She was just an inch shorter than him in her heels, a taller girl than James was used to.

They entered the tent that had been erected in the courtyard for the party, but they didn’t need to worry about being cold inside it as magic did its job. The inside of the tent was covered in tinsel, mistletoe, and fairy lights, looking extremely extravagant, something one wouldn’t be able to tell looking just from the outside of it. James and Genevieve exchanged glances. She looked delighted and the décor of the party, with the soft snowflakes that fell from the ceiling to the floor catching in her hair, adding to its sparkle.

‘James!’ Sirius appeared, hollering for his friend, laughing and attacking James into a hug.

‘So you got a date then?’ James chuckled as he clapped Sirius on the back before stepping back and taking in Sirius’s attire. He was wearing a black Muggle suit (he wasn’t a fan of dress robes and it was another way for him to rebel against his parents) with a black shirt and a red tie, his hair done up and his usual smirk on his face.

‘Yep, shacked up with Arden Darbis, last minute, Hufflepuff,’ Sirius said, pointing at a dark haired girl wearing a slinky, silver dress.

‘Trust you to get her,’ Genevieve snorted, Sirius raising an eyebrow at her response before she turned her attention back on James. ‘I’m going to see Charlotte quickly, I’ll be back soon,’ she told him and left him with a soft kiss on the cheek. James grinned and turned to look at Sirius, who looked intrigued.

‘Fair enough,’ Sirius said, taking a sip of his drink, while James laughed.

‘Don’t even get me started, she’s some work. Charmed the stuff yet?’ James questioned, reaching inside his pocket, and pulling out a silver flask.

‘Yep. Around eleven, people will be disappearing into thin air, like that,’ Sirius whispered, snapping his fingers for dramatic effect.

‘Brilliant,’ James chuckled. ‘I’ll see you later, I got to sort these drinks and I don’t want Sluggy getting suspicious of us when people start falling over drunk.’

‘Have fun, spike the cherry punch, it tastes like shit,’ Sirius winked and left for his date while James headed for the drinks table, flask in hand.

He checked to see if anyone was looking before he unscrewed the top of the flask and poured in the contents of it into a bowl. He then quickly shoved the flask back in his pocket before grabbing one of the crystal glasses that stood at the table and poured himself a ladleful.

‘Trust you to spike the punch,’ he heard Marlene’s voice and turned his head round to see her grinning.

‘Well someone’s got to provide the fun,’ he told her as he set his own glass down to pour the blonde a drink. Although he hadn’t tasted it before, the cherry punch for sure had to taste better than it did before now that he’d added some alcohol.

‘What did you put in it?’ she asked, taking the glass he handed her.

‘Some cheap, Muggle vodka,’ James replied, taking a long sip. He felt he was going to need it.

‘Think I’d rather have a smoke at the moment, to be honest,’ Marlene stated, rubbing her lips together to redistribute red lipstick she was wearing, the fruity flavour of the punch doing a bad job at masking the vodka. ‘So how’d you manage to bag little miss princess?’ she asked, gesturing to Genevieve.

James looked up to see Genevieve smiling tightly, currently cornered by Slughorn into a strained conversation. She was undoubtedly less than enjoying the conversation, but the little politeness in her nature refused to let her leave.

‘Just my charm, you know. It’s undeniable,’ he declared in an exaggerated fashion, making Marlene snort.

‘She’s a right piece of work. Apparently, she has a whole wing to herself in whatever mansion her family live in. So you two are suited perfectly,’ Marlene cackled, teasing him with the fact that James’s parents had converted the entire attic in the house for him into a studio apartment just shy of a kitchen.

‘Shut up,’ he groaned, rolling his eyes and bumping shoulders with her.

‘It was just a joke, relax. But I must say, a thing for redheads, you do have. By the way, you were matching Evans tonight, before you changed ties’ Marlene whispered in his ear, before patting him on the shoulder and walking away. His eyes followed her to see her walk back to Edward Tate, who had his arm encircled around Lily Evans, but his face brightened up when Marlene returned. James's brain barely registered that.

While Genevieve looked beautiful, Lily looked exquisitely, divinely breath-taking. He felt his eyes burning with the need to close them, but he didn’t want to lose sight of her, not for a second. She was wearing a gorgeous midnight blue dress that made her eyes shine brighter than fireworks. It clung to her in all the right place, her smile was angelic, her movements graceful, and she glowed brighter than anyone in the room. She had glitter shimmering in her long, red, vibrant hair, the same glitter that seemed to shimmer on her dress.

His vision of her was cut off by someone standing in front of him. She looked pale in comparison to Lily, the dress washed out and the redness in her hair, not as vivid. James knew it was wrong to compare two girls, but next to Lily, Genevieve looked like the royal doppelganger used to allow the queen to escape safely from a crowd.

‘James, let’s dance,’ Genevieve took his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor. James simply prayed that she couldn’t hear the thumping of his heart that didn’t beat for her.

Sirius was stood outside of the tent, at the back so he wouldn’t get caught. He needed some air after the several hours in the tent with sweaty bodies, he’d needed some air. He was smoking a cigarette, breathing the smoke out in patterns to entertain himself as he watched it disappear into the cool night air.

‘I swear fate’s on my side today, hand me a smoke,’ Marlene arrived by his side, smirking. Sirius blew the smoke out his lungs.

‘Sorry, I don’t offer fags to women who reject me,’ he grinned down to her, making her raise his eyebrows at him.

‘Become a man and this woman might let you take another shot,’ she retorted, grabbing the cigarette from in between his fingers and putting her own lips to it, staining it.

‘Says the _woman_ who asked me to buy her fags last term because she looked too young for anyone to sell them to her,’ Sirius teased back, his eyes scanning her body. Her red dress she was wearing reached the soles of the heels and had a slit up one of the legs. It had triangle cut outs at either side of her ribs with a plunging neckline and straps on her shoulders to hold it up. Her blonde hair was loose, natural, and wavy, her lashes long in mascara. He felt his blood pressure rise slightly.

‘Thanks,’ she whispered huskily as she handed him the cigarette back so he could have another drag. She couldn’t deny he looked handsome in the suit, although she missed his leather jacket. She had grown accustomed to him wearing it.

‘Who did you come with tonight?’ Sirius asked her out of curiosity.

‘No one. I decided to embrace my feminist side tonight. Besides, I quite enjoying dancing by myself, it offers much more freedom to move,’ Marlene laughed at her own thoughts.

‘What do you think of James and the princess?’ Sirius questioned her again, passing the cigarette over to the blonde.

‘Oh, he’s going to get his head scalped,’ Marlene laughed, and Sirius hummed comically in agreement.

Sirius glanced down to see Marlene rubbing her hands up and down her arms softly due to the chilly weather, though clearly trying to do it subtly. He took off his blazer and draped it over Marlene’s shoulders. She looked up at him, a look of surprise gracing her features.

‘Oh no, Black, you don’t have t-’

‘Just take it. Consider it an apology for what happened at the Broomsticks. I was a dick and I shouldn’t have acted that way,’ Sirius interrupted her and drew one last smoke as he finished off the cigarette. He dropped it onto the ground and used his foot to stamp it into the grass. He looked back to see Marlene with a small smile.

‘Apology accepted, dickhead,’ she said to him in jest. She then raised herself onto her toes, as much as her heels would let her and Sirius felt her soft lips brush his cheeks, which didn’t help in lowering his blood pressure. He looked down at her once she was back on her feet.

‘I’m a _little_ bit drunk, which is also probably why I’m saying this, but, I’m sorry for how I acted after we slept together. I’m just bad at that sort of shit. When it’s other guys, I know I never have to be around them again and it’s calm. But you. You’re here,’ Marlene spilled out. Bewildered slightly, Sirius took in a breath.

‘Hey, dancing on your own can get a little lonely. I can lend you a hand every now and then,’ he grinned down at her and she rolled her eyes playfully. She opened her mouth to reply to him but before any sound could emerge, startled screams materialised from inside the tent, as well as some loud pops.

‘What the fuck?’ Marlene sounded as both she and Sirius raced back to the tent to be met with people disappearing all over the place and others rushing out to the front of then tent, from where the Black Lake could be seen.

Sirius grabbed Marlene’s hand and pulled her to the other side of the tent to meet James, who was standing on his own and onlooking the chaos while chuckling to himself at the surprised figures which appeared at the shore of the lake, figures that had previously been inside the tent enjoying the party.

‘You brilliant bastards,’ Marlene muttered in amusement as she watched everyone who was holding one of the crystal glasses on the table be whisked away. Marlene clocked two and two together and realised the boys had somehow found a way to charm the glasses into Portkeys and everyone who was holding one was being transported.

Sirius and James stood together, first-bumping for their achievement. They could already feel the glare of McGonagall on the back of their heads, knowing that the next month of detentions that they would receive would be entirely worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically no secret that I have a bit of a soft spot for Sirius and Marls now, is it? :) I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, finally got a proper lil glimpse into James pining for Lily. Also, outfit description is literally one of my favourite thing in the world, so you can be expecting a bit more of that in the future ahaha :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	20. Tinsel and Tequila

There were few places that felt more like Christmas than Godric’s Hollow. Hogwarts had it Christmas charm, of course, but James always knew there was nowhere he’d rather spend his Christmas than at home with his parents. As well as one night in the guest cottage that his parents owned, near the centre of Godric’s Hollow. That was the night when James Potter’s annual Christmas party occurred.

‘Now listen to me, boys, and listen good. _No underage drinking_ ,’ Euphemia emphasised, though she knew it was in vain as she was getting ready to go out to the shops. She had on a long green coat with a black scarf wrapped around her neck, making her look particularly dashing.

‘ _Mum,_ do we have to go through this every time? You say that, and then I say that there is no way on this Merlin forsaken earth that we will have any drink, and we _both_ know that’s not true,’ James argued, making Euphemia sigh and roll her eyes at her son’s notions, but couldn’t help the small smirk that ended up gracing her face.

Remus and Peter sniggered at the interaction of mother and son as they listened on. They had arrived earlier in the day to help James set up for the party as they usually did. It was a party for anyone from Hogwarts who wanted to come, although they couldn’t deny that any Slytherin’s and little first, second and third years were all that welcome, despite James throwing the party since his second year. It always had a good turnout and people had ended up expecting it to happen every year. The only people who adamantly hadn’t attended the past few years were (sadly for James) Lily Evans and (happily for most at the party) many of the Slytherin’s from across the years.

‘Any word on Sirius making his way over?’ Euphemia asked, as she was about to head out the door, picking up her bag that held her purse and other items along the way.

‘He sent a letter earlier this week where he said there was no reason why he couldn’t make it, but I’ve not heard from his since,’ James shrugged, but on the inside, he was as worried as Euphemia currently looked on the outside for the boy.

‘That’s worrying if we’ve had no other interaction from him for a while,’ she said, more to herself than the boys, biting her lip. ‘I’m going to head off, please do not go crazy with the decorations at the guest house and please hide away all the nice vases and ornaments so they don’t get smashed,’ she handed the boys and final checklist and locked the front door behind her as she exited. 

The Potter’s guest cottage in Godric’s Hollow, although located closer to the centre of the town, almost seemed slightly more hidden away than the Potter’s residential home. You had to go looking for it. It was certainly located in the older part of the town, the houses reflecting the Shakespearean era during which it was built. It was a respectably sized, lopsided sort of place that Fleamont and Euphemia often rented out to Muggles who enjoyed a countryside break over the summer. During the winter, in remained mostly empty, especially over Christmas where people generally spent the days at their own homes.

The cottage, however, did look different to the rest of the street, as where the other house’s doors resided right on the pavement, to get to the Potter’s guest cottage, one had to open and pass through an iron gate with a stone wall on either side and walk up to the front door on stone path which had a neat garden surrounding it in the summer. The summer months decorated the house with honeysuckle and flowers which Euphemia ensured that she tended to and in the winter, it was overtaken by frost, which James, Remus, and Peter saw as they entered the cottage to set up for the party.

Inside the cottage was delightful. Euphemia had visited in the morning and set up a roaring fire to keep it warm for the rest of the day, as well as dropped off a mountain of party food and drinks for the goers to enjoy and for the boys to display. James, Remus, and Peter had brought their own stack of alcoholic beverages, hidden from Euphemia, to set up around the kitchen and lounge to make the party one to be talked about. James Potter was one that knew better than anyone, you’re no one until you’re talked about.

‘Right, boys,’ James clapped his hands together and rubbed them while the others took off their coats and hung them up. ‘Let’s get started.’

Lily Evans on this day, was in London, making her way out the Tube and into Kensington to visit Marlene. Marlene had decided to stay in London for the first few days of the holidays with her eldest brother, Matthew, when she got off the Hogwarts Express, rather than heading straight back up to Scotland with the rest of her family. Both Marlene’s brothers had moved to London this year to be as close to the Ministry of Magic as possible due to the fact that Matthew was trying to establish his name as an Auror and Maxwell, or Max for short, had started his Auror training this year. Marlene couldn’t deny that she preferred to stay with Matthew in London as he lived with his girlfriend, so the place was neater, and truthfully, she was closer to her eldest brother than she was to the one nearer her age. She also loved London at Christmas and it wasn’t unheard of for her to visit many days during December.

With her best friend a lot closer to her than usual, Lily had hopped on a train and then on the Tube to go and visit Marlene outside of the school environment and Lily too, loved London at Christmas. She was in no way as much of a city girl as Marlene was, who grew up Glasgow’s West End, but she appreciated the beauty of it.

She arrived at one of the many stunning red bricked apartment complexes that littered Kensington and buzzed at the front door to be let in. Once the latch of the door came loose, she made her way up the grand flight of stairs to the fourth floor and reached a black door with a knocker that screamed wealth to her. She tapped it a few times and it opened to reveal a blonde Marlene McKinnon dressed in blue jeans that had layered, flared ruffles at the bottom and a simple orange t-shirt.

‘Early as usual, Miss Evans,’ Marlene teased as she let Lily through the front door. Lily took her shoes off so not to muddy the apartment’s glossy wooden floor and unwrapped the layers of clothing that kept her warm in the icy winter chill.

Exchanging greetings, the two girls headed through the large and spacious apartment to Marlene’s bedroom which Matthew and his girlfriend had specifically made up for her due to her frequent visits during the various holidays that Hogwarts had to offer. Lily loved the room, with its clean white walls and grey decorations. A large bookshelf fully to the brim with beautifully bound manuscripts covered a large portion of one of the walls and Marlene’s large wooden record player sat in one of the corners, near the double bed.

‘So, what’s the plan for today?’ Lily asked as she bounced onto Marlene’s bed where Marlene had quickly perched the second she’d entered the room.

‘Well, _actually,_ today is the day a certain Christmas party is occurring,’ Marlene trailed off as she spoke, her words causing Lily’s face to fall into a scowl.

‘It’s Potter’s Christmas thing, isn’t it,’ she growled as Marlene smiled guiltily. ‘I’m not going,’ Lily added plainly.

‘Oh, please come! They’re actually really good,’ Marlene pleaded, and Lily sighed heavily.

‘I don’t really care if they’re all that good, it’s still Potter’s party and, I’m sorry Marls, he’s a bully,’ Lily replied, crossing her legs as she made herself more comfortable on the bed.

‘All of us, Dorcas and Alice and me, we’ll all be there so you’ll always have us to talk to. Even if we’re busy, so many of us go to this party that I doubt you’ll even see James, let alone come into contact with him,’ Marlene attempted to convince her redheaded friend, and she could see that she was getting through as Lily was biting her lip, something she always done when she was considering an important decision.

‘You promise I won’t have to talk to him?’ she asked tentatively, and Marlene instantly brightened up, nodding enthusiastically. Lily had to admit, she was in the mood for a bit of fun and to let loose after the first stressful half-year of OWLs. Despite the party being James Potter’s, it did sound quite fun at the end of the day. Additionally, she wasn’t too keen to head back home soon and face her sister, Petunia, again.

‘One hundred percent, I’ll lay my life down on it,’ the blonde said confidently. Reluctantly, Lily began to nod, which made Marlene squeal and jump up to hug her. ‘Fantastic! You can even stay over here for the night if you’d like, we can find you one of those Muggle phone thingy’s to call home on.’

‘There is one problem though, Marls, I don’t have anything to wear,’ Lily reminded her. Her statement, however, was only greeted with one of Marlene’s positively cheeky smiles.

‘ _Oh,_ Lily. Just you wait and see some of the stuff I bought on Oxford Street today, it will blow your mind,’ Marlene winked and headed over to her large wardrobe which she opened to reveal a large collection of colourful clothes. ‘We’ll have a makeover to do yet.’

In the Potter’s guest cottage, James, Remus, and Peter were adding the final festive touches to the rooms, as well as teenage proofing them so Euphemia didn’t kill them. Remus walked into the lounge from the staircase, already dressed in a black shirt and dark jeans.

‘We forgot to hide that glass figurine your mum has in the upstairs bathroom, so I just put it in the cupboard under the sink,’ Remus informed James, who was setting up the last of the food.

‘That’s fine, I probably would have put it there anyway,’ James replied, throwing something in the bin and the two boys went through the kitchen to see Peter.

‘Any word from Sirius yet?’ Peter asked, a small frown of worry on his face.

‘Nope, it wouldn’t surprise me if he makes a grand entrance halfway through the party. He’s probably just trying to freak us out before he jumps in,’ James chuckled, but he was trying to reassure himself more than anyone. He was used to not hearing from Sirius for periods of time longer than this, but he had a hunch. The silence from his best friend felt different this time. It made his stomach jump to his throat.

At around seven o’clock, people started to arrive, and James had to admit that he was still rather shocked at the turnout of the party, especially after the murder that happened in Godric’s Hollow in the year’s summer.

There were people dancing in the lounge and enjoying themselves, particularly the fifth and seventh years after their first half-year study struggles who had definitely needed the chance to unwind. James looked over to the kitchen to see Remus and Dorcas deep in conversation about something or other and smirked.

Marlene and Lily entered the party, around an hour late, mainly due to Lily’s qualms and indecisiveness about going and Marlene throwing clothes around her room, pressing various items up to Lily to see what would suit her best. They eventually managed to get there with Matthew dropping them off. Lily’s eyes almost immediately clocked to a handsome looking Gideon Prewett sitting in an armchair, who had Emmeline all over him, the couple having not seen each other for a few days. Lily felt her jaw tighten slightly and she looked to her right to see that her blonde friend was gone. She stood out among the crowd as Lily found her quickly, greeting and hugging James. She glimpsed Dorcas and Remus through the kitchen door and went to join them.

‘Good party, Jamie, I’m proud of you,’ Marlene said as they broke away from the hug and James grinned back at her.

‘Thank you, Marls, and was that a rare Lily Evans I saw walk through the door with you?’ James questioned, making Marlene roll her eyes.

‘Of course she would be the first thing you notice, yes, I convinced her to come. You’re welcome,’ Marlene winked, as James laughed.

‘How in Merlin’s name did you manage that?’ James asked with disbelief.

‘I’m a woman of many talents, and what is that covered in tinsel?’ Marlene changed the subject, pointing a table behind James that had several bottles with clear liquid in them, tackily decorated with tinsel. ‘What new Muggle concoction are you introducing us to this time?’

‘Ah, _that_ , my dear McKinnon, is called tequila,’ James said, grabbing a bottle and two cups, pouring some of the liquid into them.

‘Sounds Mexican,’ Marlene sounded, taking a cup and sniffing it.

‘Ten point to Gryffindor,’ James laughed as they clinked the glasses.

Music and laughter engulfed the party as it wore on into the night, the silencing charms that Fleamont had surrounded the cottage with doing a grand job at not disturbing any Muggles around the street. The last thing the Potter’s wanted so close to Christmas was a run in with Muggle law enforcement.

James was wandering around the party, ensuring that everyone was having a good time, when he ran into, really, one of the only people he had genuinely wanted to see. She was also just so easy to annoy as well, especially when she was looking so radiant in a dark green jumper. He was rather drunk as well, as his voice portrayed.

‘Evans!’ he exclaimed as he ran into her, his enthusiastic rebuffed with a huff and the usual eye roll he received.

‘What do you want, Potter?’ she asked less than pleasantly, only making the Potter boy grin even more.

‘Just wanted to see how you were enjoying the party,’ he giggled, caused by the alcohol in his system. Lily frowned and looked into his face for the first time.

‘How drunk are you?’ she asked, and he could the corners of her mouth fighting to not turn upwards.

‘Nah, I’m all groovy, but how nice of you to worry about me!’ James teased her. With his use of language, Lily really was trying hard not to laugh now.

‘Hey, James, have you seen Alice anywhere? I’ve been looking for her all over and can’t find her,’ Dorcas asked as she came up to the two of them, looking around the party for her brunette friend.

‘Yeah, I think she went into that little piano room not too long ago,’ the words spilling out of James’s mouth before he could think of what he was saying.

‘Okay, thanks,’ Dorcas said and quickly disappeared in search of Alice as realisation dawned on James and his eyes grew wide, starting to panic.

‘Potter, are you al-’ Lily started to question, but James was already pushing through the party in search of Dorcas. Curiosity got the better of Lily and she followed him.

‘Dorcas, stop, don’t go in that room!’ James yelled when he found Dorcas, her hand on the latch of the door and she pushed it open. James panted in defeat as he watched Dorcas stand shell shocked in the doorway and a confused Lily stood next to him.

‘What the fuck is going on?’ Lily demanded to know as she barged past James and went to put her arm round a clearly surprised Dorcas. However, as she reached the door, she was also completely surprised at what she saw.

Alice hadn’t expected it. She was pretty sure she and Frank had snuck into the small room at the Potter’s that had been labelled _Out of Bounds_ rather sneakily and that no one had caught her. She had asked James beforehand if she could go in and he had said yes. She didn’t think that he would allow her to use it just for him to expose herself and Frank together.

They had jumped apart from each other the second they’d heard Alice’s named called and the door squeak open. Alice turned her head to the door to see Dorcas standing there and Lily just arriving. Dorcas was her best friend, and she didn’t look annoyed or angry or disappointed, as she should have. She looked upset, deeply so. Alice could have handled any of the other three emotions, but not Dorcas’s sadness towards her. It made Alice feel like the worst friend in the world.

‘I’m so sorry!’ James pushed in, spouting his apologies to Alice and Frank. ‘I completely forgot you were in here with Frank, and to be honest, I’m quite drunk-’

‘You told them?’ Alice shrieked, now furious at James as she crossed her arms and glared at the slurring boy.

‘Why didn’t _you_?’ Dorcas’s gentle voice asked, the sadness clearly heard in it. Alice’s features instantly softened.

‘Cas, I was going to tell you, I really was,’ Alice tried to damage control, moving closer to her best friend, but Dorcas stepped back.

‘We’re supposed to tell each other anything, trust each other with anything. I suspected something was going on, but I always thought you’d tell me. How long have you been together?’ Dorcas asked, those around her no silent as Alice tried to climb out of the pit she’d dug for herself.

‘That doesn’t matte-’

‘How long?’ Dorcas interrupted her, more demanding this time, crossing her arms over in a defensive stance.

‘Since March,’ Alice hung her head guiltily as Dorcas’s eyes widened.

‘Right,’ Dorcas said shakily. She felt fidgety, unsure of what to do. She needed air. She needed away from everyone around her. So she turned on her heel and ran into the crowd of the party. Quite honestly, she didn’t really want to face Alice at this moment in time. She shared everything with her. And if Alice had hid this, what else was she hiding?

‘Cas!’ Alice pleaded, starting to head after her, but Lily blocked her path.

‘Don’t go find her right now, let her cool off,’ Lily said wisely, as James stepped in the room and shut the door behind him, so they were away from the party.

‘The best thing you can do is to let it just sink in with her. Dorcas is Dorcas, when she’s ready to talk she’ll come to you, she doesn’t hold a grudge,’ James developed on Lily’s words, which she was grateful for. Lily herself had a million questions, but she knew this wasn’t the time to talk ask them.

Alice stepped back and went to sit on the small loveseat, back into Frank’s arms where Lily couldn’t help but smirk at the actions.

‘So,’ she said, elongating the vowel. ‘Nine, ten months, then?’

‘Don’t start,’ Alice sniffled at Lily’s teasing.

Dorcas had ran to the back garden. She sat on the steps of the porch, confused and dizzy at what she’d just witnessed that she didn’t even register when people sat down on either side of her.

‘Ace, you okay?’ she heard Remus ask. From her other side, she felt Marlene’s slender arm wrap around her shoulders. She shook her head to answer and cuddled her knees into her chest.

‘What happened?’ Marlene asked as she exchanged a worried glance with Remus. Dorcas was never like this, she was happy, smiley, a regular ray of sunshine. This behaviour was very unusual.

‘Remember when we were at Hogsmeade and I told you I had a hunch that Alice was dating someone?’ Dorcas said, turning her head to face Marlene. The blonde nodded, encouraging Dorcas to expand. ‘Turns out she’s been dating Frank Longbottom since fucking March.’

Marlene was surprised to hear such frustration in Dorcas’s voice. It was a rare occurrence in her friend and even Remus raised his brows in surprise at the tone in which she spoke.

‘That sixth year?’ Marlene asked, trying to appear neutral.

‘And she didn’t tell you for that long?’ Remus asked, though he was lying through his teeth. He’d known since the start of the school year that Alice and Frank were dating, but there was no need to tell Dorcas that now, especially while she was so upset.

‘And you know what the worst part of it was?’ Dorcas asked them, her voice growing stronger from the original weakness they’d found her in. There was a hint of anger in it.

‘What?’ Marlene murmured, almost unwilling to hear the answer. If it was enough to make Dorcas this heated, it was perhaps something that shouldn’t be said.

‘Even James fucking Potter knew before me.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, hi, I enjoy writing about parties and I hope you enjoyed it too ;) it's always were so much fun drama goes down, especially where the Marauders are involved, I think you can agree :). I just want to say again, thank you for all your lovely comments, they're truly so inspiring and lovely, as are the Kudos, I can't thank you enough for supporting this fic!!  
> Love, Julia xx


	21. The Inkeepers

‘James Potter, I will not ask you again! It’s almost two o’clock, the McKinnon’s are arriving at five and you have still not moved that lazy arse of yours out of bed,’ Euphemia Potter stressed as she ripped the soft duvet away from the body of a fifteen year old boy who had been laying in the same position on his bed for so long that the mattress now had a permanent indentation.

‘Mum, it’s the bloody holiday’s, let me live,’ James moaned, curling himself up into a ball as the cooler air of his room hit the skin that had been comfortably warmed by his covers. His eyes were still closed, and he was refusing to open them.

‘I wouldn’t call what you’re doing living,’ Euphemia muttered, which stirred James to finally open his eyes and meet her gaze with a glare.

‘The McKinnon’s know what I’m like. They don’t care if I’ve just come in from building mud pies, Marcus and Madison are always just happy to see me. They don’t care what I look like,’ James groaned, sitting up in his bed, but now avoiding the stern gaze of Euphemia. Despite her soft features, Euphemia had the capability to look like a scary dragon lady.

‘Yes, but _I’m_ the one who has to look at you every day, and I would quite like to see my son up, fresh out the shower so I don’t have to smell his stench, and dressed!’ Euphemia insisted, rolling James off his bed so he ended up sprawled on the floor.

‘It’s New Year’s Eve, I need all the energy I can get so I can stay up past midnight,’ James rubbed his eyes in an innocent fashion in attempts to gain some sympathy from his mother. It didn’t work.

‘James, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from going to bed early tonight, but do not come complaining to me when Marlene bullies you for it,’ Euphemia chuckled as she watched her son’s face turn into a scowl.

‘You’re hilarious, you know that?’ he said sarcastically to his mother as he stood up while she tossed his duvet back on the bed.

‘I know, it’s just a shame you didn’t inherit my comedic side. Now get in the shower and put some trousers on, we don’t need you scaring the world,’ Euphemia teased and chucked him a fresh blue towel.

‘Rude,’ James muttered and entered his bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Frowning at his hair that currently resembled and unsightly birds nest, he turned the shower on.

‘And once you’re done, you’re to come down here and help me with the cooking for the night!’ he heard his mum yelling from outside his room, making him groan and bump his head of the wall as the bathroom steamed up from the hot shower.

He took his shower, not bothering to fix his hair and chucked on some clothes (jeans specifically at his mother’s request) and went downstairs to the spacious lounge area of the house. He went through to the kitchen where he found his father sitting by the table, reading the _Daily Prophet_ and his mother at the stove, humming along to the WWN (Wireless Wizarding Network) music and, as far as James could tell, watching a pot of water boil. Their house elf, Effie, was the one that always did the cooking and was running around madly with various pies and other delicacies on trays.

Euphemia always, at least according to James, had strange points in the year where she wanted to cook. But like most ancient wizarding families, the Potter’s had all grown up with house elves and therefore had never done the typical Muggle chores around the house as there had always been elves to do them. James would never understand his mother’s sudden need or want to assist Effie in the cooking, as when it came down to it, Euphemia would end up simply watching Effie do her magic and partake in take none of it.

‘Mister Potter, would sir like some breakfast?’ Effie ran up to him instantly when she noticed him, her happy, squeaky voice a joy to everyone’s ears.

‘Breakfast? It’s already past lunch, Effie,’ Fleamont chuckled, making Effie laugh too, clamping her hands over her mouth to hide her smile. James grimaced at his father as Effie ushered him to a seat at the kitchen table and set a large amount of bacon sandwiches in front of him and a glass of pumpkin juice.

‘Never thought I’d raise a lazy kid,’ Fleamont laughed as he folded over his newspaper and set it down on the table, James stuffing his face with the bacon sandwiches.

‘Alright, is it gang up on James day or something?’ James queried incredulously, flailing his arms around so a strip of bacon ended up flying and landing on the windowsill.

‘James, darling, swallow your food before you start talking, and isn’t it always gang up on James day,’ Euphemia teased, drying her hands on a towel.

‘How many of the McKinnon’s are actually coming today?’ James queried, brushing off his mother’s playful comments. When all three children (Matthew, Maxwell, and Marlene) had all lived with their parents, they had always come over for New Year’s Eve as a whole family. James always loved it as he’d never had any siblings of his own, and so it allowed him to dream for a night that he did. Over the years, Matthew moved down to London and so his visits became less frequent as he began celebrating the New Year with his friends. Max had always joined them throughout his Hogwarts years, but now that he’d moved out and to London, James didn’t know what the plan was.

‘Just Marcus, Madison and Marlene tonight, the two boys have made they’re own plans as far as I know,’ Euphemia replied, retrieving a white tablecloth from one of the kitchen cupboards. ‘Shame, really, I was hoping for Max to tell us all about how his Auror training was going.’

‘Marls has said he’s apparently top of his class,’ James informed as he finished off the last of his bacon sandwiches and had to prevent Effie from going to make him more. She was always desperate to please.

‘No surprise there, he’s one of the brightest young minds I’ve ever met. All the McKinnon’s are stunningly clever,’ Fleamont chimed in, making James’s head turn to him.

‘And what about me, father, am I stunningly clever?’ James asked in the poshest accent he could muster, batting his eyelashes.

‘You just keep being a pretty face, son, it’ll get you far in life,’ Fleamont responded in jest, patting his son on the back while Euphemia howled with laughter.

James tossed on a dark blue shirt, unbuttoned at the top, once he reached his converted, loft bedroom. From the corner of his eye, he caught a photo of himself and Sirius in fourth year, laughing and grinning towards the camera, but his own smile now fell. Sirius hadn’t shown up to the party and James still hadn’t heard from him since. He was getting more and more worried, and although he knew Sirius could look after himself, it didn’t stop James from wondering what was stopping him from sending a letter at number twelve, Grimmauld Place.

James heard the doorbell ring from downstairs and almost instantly afterwards were the sound of Euphemia and Madison gushing over one another. James ran a hand through his hair and strode down the stairs, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

‘Oh, Jamie, you’ve grown up so much since the last time I saw you!’ Madison exclaimed as she yanked James into a hug the second she saw him, knocking the wind and stopping the circulation of the poor boy. Over Madison’s shoulder, he could see Marlene chuckling at the scene gleefully, as the apparently cool boy was cuddled.

They headed into the lounge once greetings had passed, the adults already in discussions of Ministry business. James and Marlene sat closest to the fire as drinks were handed out, Marlene trying to heat up from the winter chill.

‘Did the cottage survive after the party?’ Marlene chuckled as she warmed her hands by the orange flames. James let out a large sigh at the question.

‘Physically, yes. Emotionally, I think not,’ he said, and Marlene grimaced at his words.

‘Did all four of you boys really know?’ she asked, biting her lip at the awkwardness that had been when the girls found out about Alice’s relationship.

‘Yeah. We caught them near the start of the year, and she begged us not to tell anyone, so we didn’t,’ James explained, cringing slightly at the memory of it all now. ‘I think the only person other than us to know was Josh Soots, Frank’s mate.’

‘Nope, Edward Tate ended up walking in on them as well, Alice told me,’ Marlene announced, causing James to react in surprise.

‘Really?’

‘Yep. Apparently he also blackmailed her in exchange for not telling us. He was asking her to talk him up to me,’ Marlene scoffed. If there was any way to seem less attractive to her, it was to bribe her friend to big him up.

‘Merlin. What a twat, wasn’t he the one who Evans took to Sluggy’s party?’ James questioned, remembering Edward’s arm around Lily’s waist.

‘The very same.’

‘Supper’s ready!’ they heard Euphemia called out to them. They hadn’t realised they had been left alone in the sitting room until Euphemia dragged them out of their own conversation. They exchanged glances and headed to the dining room to join the adults.

They indulged in many different courses and chatter over the evening. Some conversations were cut short in front of James and Marlene, and although the parents had notion that the did it subtly, the teenagers still took notice of the sharp subject changes, especially around Marcus McKinnon’s work. Marlene whispered in James’s ear that this behaviour was also becoming more and more common in her house when her parents were discussing their job.

They watched the countdown to the year of 1976 draw closer together and on the first stroke of midnight, Marcus popped the champagne which sent bubbles spilling everywhere as he attempted to pour the liquid into six flutes. Euphemia and Madison had decided that James and Marlene were old enough for a glass of champagne at New Year’s, which made the two teenagers snort.

‘Marlene, would you like to stay the night?’ Fleamont asked as Effie ran through his legs on her mission to collect every dirty and used glass or dish around the house to make them sparkling in time for the next morning. Euphemia handed Marcus and Madison their coats as they got ready to leave.

‘As long as I’m not a bother, Uncle Monty,’ she said respectfully as Euphemia hung onto the blonde’s jacket.

‘You never are my dear, besides, James loves the company, despite what he tells you,’ Euphemia smiled with a wink.

‘In that case, you can’t keep me away!’ Marlene laughed, and went to tackle James into a headlock as the McKinnon’s disapparated away.

James and Marlene settled themselves by the coffee table, starting a game of Gobstones as neither of them could admit to being tired just yet. Nothing made the new year quite as joyous for Marlene as watching James be squirted with a foul smelling liquid and grumble as he lost against her. James decided to give up after the third time he lost to Marlene and decided to switch them to Exploding Snap, a game he knew he could actually win.

‘Want some hot chocolate?’ Marlene asked as James dealt out the cards into two piles. The Christmas tree twinkled in the background, offering some belated cheer.

‘Do you even need to ask?’ James grinned at her and they went through to the kitchen. Effie was sat at the table with a large laundry basket next to her, pairing socks.

‘Effie, it’s late, what are you still doing up?’ James asked, glancing at the clock to see that it read three in the morning. He gently took the socks out of Effie’s nimble fingers, setting them down on the table.

‘Mister Potter, Effie had to finish this laundry, it was annoying Effie that it wasn’t finished when it was to be done today!’ her high pitched voice explained as tired eyes looked up to James, making James shake his head in amusement.

‘Effie, go to bed, you can finish it tomorrow. And that’s an order,’ James said kindly before Effie could contradict him. She gazed back at them, unsure, but eventually went up the stairs, dragging her feet along sleepily.

‘I love her, she’s so sweet,’ Marlene gushed as she grabbed a glass bottle of milk out the fridge and poured it into a pan on the stove to heat it up.

‘Yeah, she works herself too hard,’ James sat down by the kitchen table.

Marlene looked out of one of the kitchen windows that faced the Potter’s overgrown, yet charming back garden. Despite the dark, she was able to see quite far into the garden due to the porch light that always shone its yellow rays. At the back of the garden, in one of the bushes, her breath caught in her throat as she swore she could see a set of large, lamp-like eyes in the bushes of the garden. Anxiously, she blinked and stared straight back into the same spot. The eyes were gone.

‘James, I’m going to go upstairs and change into my pyjamas. Keep an eye on the milk, would you, make sure it doesn’t burn,’ she said, hearing a hum of agreement back from James. Convincing herself that she was simply seeing things, she double-stepped the stairs to get to the guest room that the Potter’s had unofficially dubbed as her own.

James stood up and went to the stove to do what Marlene told him, when, from the corner of his eye, he could see something moving through the window in his garden. He turned his head to see a big black shape moving across the grass towards the door. His heart was in his chest, glad the house was locked, until he heard a soft whimpering and scratching at the door.

‘Padfoot?’ James whispered to himself as he walked towards the door and clutched the doorknob to open it.

A big, black dog entered, without glancing at James and within seconds, in its place, stood a weak, dirty, and dishevelled Sirius Black. James immediately moved himself under Sirius’s arm to help him from succumbing to the forces of gravity and helped him move over to one of the chairs of the kitchen table where Sirius collapsed.

‘Merlin, Padfoot, what happened?’ James asked urgently, worry erupting from his words as he sat down in a chair nest to Sirius, who was supporting his head with his hand, eyes closed.

‘I’m so fucked, Prongs, so totally fucked,’ Sirius mumbled, rubbing his eyes before opening them. As his eyes scanned the room, James noticed how red they were. Sirius’s eyed stopped at the kitchen door and widened as he froze in shock.

‘Merlin’s beard,’ Marlene’s voice suddenly sounded loudly, loud enough to wake James’s parents from witnessing a distressed and broken Sirius Black in front of her. She had never in her life seen him like this. He was always so calm and collected.

‘ _Sirius_ , what happened?’ James demanded, turning Sirius’s face to look back at him, forgetting to be careful with his best friend. Sirius simply shook his head at him, resting his forehead in his hand. James, although frustrated, knew that action meant Sirius didn’t want to discuss this within even a three hundred mile radius of Marlene. He knew his friend was embarrassed that anyone other than the Potter’s had seen him like this.

‘James, what in Merlin’s name is going on?’ Fleamont asked sleepily as he walked into the kitchen, his eyes squinting at the light. He stopped in his tracks as he saw Sirius hunched over the table. ‘Euphemia!’ he yelled and rushed to kneel at Sirius’s side.

‘Goodness!’ Euphemia breathed as she entered the kitchen and saw the boy who she’d come to view as a second son, beaten the life out of. Her heart stopped. ‘James, quickly, boil some water.’

‘Son, _how_ did you get here?’ Fleamont questioned in disbelief as he crouched next to the bruised boy. He knew for sure nobody had come through the fireplace by Floo, the arrival would have been much louder.

James ran to fill the kettle while his parents fussed over Sirius. He also grabbed the small bottle of dittany his parents kept in the kitchen’s medicine cupboard and brough over to the table a bowl of hot water, a cloth, and a mug of tea. Euphemia was already taking Sirius’s shirt to inspect the damage inflicted upon him.

‘Sirius, sweetheart, don’t worry, you’re here now,’ Euphemia tried to reassure the shattered boy in front of her as cupped his cheeks with both hands. Sirius pulled her forward into a hug and clung to her as though he’d never let go.

While his wife was reigniting her career of a Healer, Fleamont stepped back, rubbing his hand across his jaw. His eyes landed on a frightened Marlene who was stood in the doorway of the kitchen, her eyes full of worry as she looked onto the scene in front of her. She felt out of body, out of mind as she watched Euphemia tend to Sirius Black. How had he gotten so hurt? What was going on?

Before she knew what was happening, Fleamont was guiding her out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Marlene looked up at him with shock.

‘I apologise, Marlene, but I’m going to have to take you home. It’s not a good time,’ Fleamont told her. Without warning, he apparated them both to Scotland, leaving her in the comforts of her own home.

Euphemia, after patching Sirius up the best that she could, instructed him to go for a hot shower to calm to relax him. She then placed him in one of the softest, comfiest armchairs they owned in the sitting room, clad in a pair of James’s pyjamas.

‘I couldn’t stay there,’ Sirius said, staring into the fire as his hands clasped around another mug of hot tea, his hair still wet from his shower. ‘I heard talk of them arranging a marriage for me. I confronted them and shit hit the fan. I managed to sneak out after they went to bed. I couldn’t stay there. Not tonight.’

Silence followed Sirius’s last words. James stared at his best friend with a mixture of horror and disbelief. They watched as Sirius fell asleep by the warm fire, exhausted from his journey. Fleamont carried his up to their guest bedroom and laid him down under the covers. Euphemia kissed Sirius on the forehead.

‘That poor boy,’ Fleamont muttered as they shut the door gently behind him. ‘What the bloody hell are they thinking, he’s only sixteen.’

‘He must have walked all the way here from London, the poor thing, that’s preposterous,’ Euphemia sighed, rubbing her creased forehead.

‘Can he stay here?’ James asked timidly. Only now, when Sirius was safely in his bed, did he allow it to show how much Sirius’s sudden appearance had shaken him. He had never arrived at the Potter’s in quite such a state as tonight. Euphemia smiled kindly at him.

‘He can stay here as long as he needs or wants, darling. Our doors are always open to him,’ she replied, her thoughts swirling in her brain so much she could no longer think straight.

‘Where did Marlene go?’ James queried, realising he hadn’t seen his blonde friend for some time.

‘I took her home,’ Fleamont answered his son. He lifted his hand to ruffle James’s hair. ‘Get to bed, son. We all need some sleep.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think of Sirius Black's upbringing and it breaks my heart all over again :( I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, despite its sadness. Sirius's family life is honestly one of the most fascinating things for me. Even though he's a character, I want nothing more than o just hug him and make sure he's alright :/  
> Keep your comments rolling in, they honestly make me so happy,  
> Love, Julia xx


	22. Striding Tags

January was bitterly cold at Hogwarts in the Scottish Highlands, for more reasons than the typical weather across the grounds. Frost clung to each blade of grass with mighty determination and crunched beneath the feet of students. The dungeons and Greenhouses were less that pleasant to sit in with no roaring fire to heat up the icy hands and feet of students wit red cheeks and noses running wildly around the castle.

Alice was particularly struggling with the biting winter month. Despite Dorcas being civil with her, she was cold. Colder than she’d ever been to Alice, who was currently sat towards the end of lunch, alone. The other three girls had headed up to the Common Room to spend the rest of the break in the warmth, but Alice had arrived late and so stayed late. Part of the action was intentional. She was struggling to bear the cold shoulder Dorcas was giving her.

There was an abandoned _Daily Prophet_ sitting across from her at the table. She hadn’t read the _Prophet_ all winter, partly because she was scared and partly because she and Dorcas would always exchange funny newspaper articles through their letters to each other. But Dorcas hadn’t sent her a letter over the break ever since the party.

Alice picked up the _Prophet_ and flicked through it, within the first few pages, no article catching her interest. Then, on page seven, another wave was thrown over her to enhance the winter. She felt like she’d walked through a ghost.

_KIDNAPPED MUGGLE GIRL FOUND DEAD IN ABANDONED MANSION_

_The kidnapping of the Muggle child, Cora Rees, was recently solved by Head Auror, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, as her body was discovered in the abandoned body of Newton House in Dinefwr, located near Rees Welsh hometown of Llandeilo,_ writes Opal Endermewt, Fatality Correspondent. _Moody has stated in her report Rees did not have any harsh external markings or injuries upon arrival and was laid across the dirty floor of the mansion as though awaiting the arrival of someone to find her. Moody believes this murder is the work of Dark witches and wizards at large._

_“The girls murder wasn’t an accident, it was a statement,” Moody’s words shook the walls of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, as he was about to enter his office. “I’m surprised there wasn’t a message to us written in her blood on the wall. Auror’s are currently regarding all cases with constant vigilance.”_

_The parents of Rees contacted the Ministry of Magic towards the end of November of their four year old’s kidnapping after being in contact with Muggle Law Enforcement known as ‘Police’ to give their statements of who they believed to have kidnapped their daughter. They described the figures as wearing black cloaks and with wands emerging from their sleeves, giving away the identity of what world they belonged to._

_Rees parents currently have an eleven year old daughter, Michelle, attending her first year of Hogwarts. Neither they, nor their eldest daughter have contributed to any articles or given any other statement to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They are said, however, to be currently mourning the fatality of Cora, the funeral date still unknown._

‘Bastards,’ Alice muttered as she threw the paper back on the table, trying to not let her emotions overcome her. She was angry that _Daily Prophet_ reporters would even have the nerve to step foot on Hogwarts grounds in attempts to find Michelle and interrogate her on the death of her little sister. Immoral didn’t even begin to describe the journalists of the Ministry.

She turned her head to view the Hufflepuff table, her eyes scanning up and down in in search of the small girl she had consoled not too long ago but could find her nowhere. Her eyes narrowed in on Professor Sprout who was just leaving the Great Hall and Alice jumped to her feet.

‘Professor! Professor Sprout!’ she yelled across the Hall, running to catch up with the wild haired teacher. Sprout spun on her heel at the sound of her voice being haired and smiled kindly at Alice when she saw her. Sprout had always had a special spot for Alice due to her amazing natural ability with plants.

‘Yes, my dear, what can I do for you?’

‘I know it’s not really my place, and I am sorry for asking, but I was just wondering where Michelle, Michelle Rees is? She’s a little first year, about this tall, in your House,’ Alice rambled, gesturing with her hand the height of the Hufflepuff. Michelle really was unusually and adorably small, coming just over Alice’s hip bone.

‘Oh, I’m sorry Alice, but she went home yesterday. I’m sure you’ve seen the _Prophet_ about her little sister. Professor Dumbledore thought it best to get her out before she was surrounded by gossip in the school,’ Professor Sprout explained, patting Alice on her right bicep comfortingly.

‘Any idea when she’ll be back?’ Alice asked, Professor Sprout returning her question with a grimace.

‘I’m afraid I don’t, sorry. I could see if I could pass a message onto her if you have one?’ Sprout offered, but Alice shook her head.

‘No, that’s okay. I just wanted to see how she was, but I don’t know her well enough to send her letters. Thank you for your help, though,’ Alice finished off with a smile, but a pained one.

‘Not at all, dear. See you for class later,’ Sprout bid her goodbye and left Alice standing by the doors of the Great Hall, biting her lip. It suddenly felt chillier than it did before.

James and Sirius occupied the Astronomy Tower together, using the space as a place for some peace and quiet away from the school. Classes had ended for the day and although the Astronomy Tower had a reputation for being ungodly freezing in the winter months, it was worth it for the break of the Common Room commotion.

The two boys were sat in silence, Sirius smoking, as they enjoyed each other’s company. It was a comfortable silence, but there were things unsaid within it. James hadn’t pressed Sirius for answers as to what happened in the early hours of the New Year.

‘I saw Effie sent you a care package the other day,’ James broke the silence as he remembered seeing a brown box full of muffins and other treats, much like the ones Effie would also send him. Sirius smirked through the smoke that left him.

‘I love that little elf of yours. She’s miles better than Kreacher could ever hope to be,’ Sirius scoffed. Kreacher was the house elf of the Black family, with a particular fondness for his mistress, Walburga Black. Needless to say, Kreacher wasn’t a fan of Sirius, just like Sirius wasn’t a fan of Kreacher, and they made sure to show it.

‘You spoke to Marls since that night?’ James asked, deciding to bite the bullet. Sirius shifted uncomfortably.

‘We’ve spoken a little, but not much. Why was she even there that night?’ Sirius reverted, changing the subject.

‘The McKinnon’s have come over for New Year’s since I can remember. She was meant to stay the night, but my dad took her home when you arrived,’ James explained.

‘Sorry.’

‘Don’t be a prat.’

‘Do you think she knows?’

‘Knows what?’ James frowned. Sirius’s question was far too open ended for James to read his mind.

‘About me being an Animagus,’ Sirius said, trying to play off the anxiousness he was feeling. His heartbeat instantly dropped back to normal when James shook his head.

‘No chance, she was upstairs when you walked through the garden and inside, she saw nothing,’ James reassured him. ‘And let’s be honest, even if she did, she wouldn’t ever tell anyone.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ Sirius agreed, though the reluctance in his voice could be heard. ‘Cheers for that night, you guys are becoming my regular hotel,’ he chuckled.

‘You’re welcome anytime, you know that. You almost sent my poor mother to her grave when you weren’t replying by the time of the party,’ James said sheepishly, not wanting to make Sirius clam up as he so often did when it came to talking about his parents.

‘I was essentially being held hostage, they didn’t want to let me out anywhere.’

‘And the marriage thing?’

‘Fuck know, but I can tell you one thing, it ain’t fucking happening. They’ll have to strike me out cold if they’d want to. I don’t even know if they were serious or just trying to rile me up,’ Sirius said, frustrated as he threw his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out with his shoe.

James didn’t know what to say in response. So he let the air go back to silence as they enjoyed each other’s company in the early darkness. Unexpectedly, a large black owl swooped down next to them, dropping an envelope into James’s lap. It had a rather scrunched up, unsightly face and ruffled its feathers pretentiously before flying off. Sirius leaned over to inspect the letter laying on James’s legs.

‘That’s a girls handwriting,’ he commented playfully sitting back again and weaving his wand in between his fingers.

‘It’s Genevieve’s, she’s been sending me letters over the break,’ James sighed, and a cheeky grin broke out over Sirius’s face which James could tell he would already be on the groaning end of.

‘Are you actually humouring that princess?’ Sirius queried, James’s interest seeming bizarre to him. Then again, any relationship further than a good snog and a few other activities with a girl seemed a bit bizarre to Sirius Black.

‘It’s not my fault I’m just so dashingly handsome and charming that they all send me love letter and fall at my feet,’ James said arrogantly, shoving the letter in the pocket of his robes without opening it, or even giving it a second glance.

‘Please, four eyes, the girls an idiot if she thinks she’s getting anywhere further than a snog with you, even if she is a redhead,’ Sirius teased, making James roll his eyes.

‘You’ll see, Evans will see the good in me and want me, then you’re going to eat those words,’ James retorted determinedly as he stood up, having had enough of the cold, and wanting to head back to the warmth of the Gryffindor Common Room. He decided he’d had enough of the cold.

‘Oh please, Evans would have had to go through a brain transplant to ever find you attractive, you _toerag_ ,’ Sirius followed suit of James, chuckling at his use of Lily’s famous insult.

‘Yeah, yeah, you just keep going and fucking random girls, thinking you’re too cool for a girlfriend,’ James laughed, shaking his head.

‘It’s not that I’m too cool, it’s just that they give me too many options, Prongs, they’re all over me’ Sirius cackled.

‘Fucking hell,’ James breathed with a grin.

The entered the Gryffindor Common Room (along the way hexing an unsuspecting Slytherin with a Bat-Bogey hex) and went up to their dormitory where Peter and Remus were sat on Remus’s bed with a large wad of parchment in front of them, covered and detailed with a red-burgundy ink.

‘I like this touch,’ Remus chuckled, holding up the parchment to Sirius as the boys came in. It read;

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_are proud to present_

_THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

‘That is sick,’ James grinned as he settled himself on the bed next to Remus’s overlooking the parchment also. ‘Pads, you’ve outdone yourself with this map.’

‘When are we actually going to get Moony to lift up his fucking want and use it?’ Sirius teased, patting Remus on the shoulder. Remus rolled his eyes, but smirked.

‘Well, I have studied it enough. In reality, we could do it now,’ Remus announced, making the other three boy’s eyes light up with excitement.

‘Who’d’ve though that Nicolas Flamel would be the one to make our dreams true,’ Peter said enthusiastically, still astonished that Remus had even met Flamel. Even more astonished by the fact he was Dorcas’s grandfather.

‘Go on then, Moony, work your magic,’ James cheered on as they crowded around Remus who remained on his bed, pulling his wand out of his back pocket.

It wasn’t as easy an affair as the boys had hoped. Developing the Trace charm onto a piece of parchment, no matter how skilled the wizard or witch, was a difficult and complex matter. Eventually, as Remus continued working, the boys retired to their own areas of the dormitory. James flung his Golden Snitch up and down in the air, Peter buried himself into some overdue homework and Remus was pretty sure that Sirius had at least three naps during his period of working.

Their patience and Remus’s perseverance, did not go unrewarded. As the hands of a clock made their way round to showing ten at night, Remus had succeeded in creating one of the most incredible creations of the Marauder’s to date. A map that showed everyone, where they are, what they’re doing, every minute of every day. It was a magnificent piece of work.

‘Holy shit, that’s Flitwick in his office!’

‘And Filch prowling the fifth floor corridor!’

‘It even shows Mrs Norris in the Astronomy Tower, she’s busting some snogging couple.’

‘Look, Filch is running there now!’

‘Ah, so that’s the shortcut he takes to get there so quickly.’

‘I had no idea he even knew about the secret passages in Hogwarts!’

‘Well of course he does, Wormtail, how else do you think he catches people so fast!’

‘And there’s Dumbledore pacing in his office as well.’

‘Minnie’s in there with him.’

‘Ah, they’re probably getting frisky!’

‘Gross, Pads.’

‘Bloody hell, Moony, well done! You’ve really outdone yourself here!’ James clapped Remus on the back who was grinning at the masterpiece that sat before them.

‘And before he gets dramatic, let’s all thank Sirius for drawing it,’ Remus said sarcastically, clapping his hands above his head as Sirius took a bow.

‘Yes, _thank you,_ I was wondering when that was going to come up,’ Sirius said once he drew back up from his bow and continued admiring the map.

‘Huh, there’s barely anyone left in the Slytherin Common Room,’ Jams said with intrigue, turning his head more to the side so he could view it more easily.

‘Or the Hufflepuff one,’ Peter announced, pointing a stubby finger to the basement near the kitchen. Sirius’s eyes lit up.

‘You know, this could be the perfect time to do that prank we always wanted to on the Hufflepuff’s,’ Sirius said slyly, making Remus sigh.

‘This map was such a mistake,’ he chortled.

‘Oh yeah, that was also the day I decided to stuff fifteen marshmallows in my mouth,’ James reminisced, staring into the wall wistfully.

‘You’re a hazard to society,’ Remus muttered, raising an eyebrow at the messy haired boy.

‘And a coward. You should’ve done twenty,’ Sirius chimed in, James scowling in response.

‘By the way, if this prank is about the hallucinogenic mushrooms, we already tried that last year to get some extra house points for Herbology. Just ‘cause Hufflepuff’s have a reputation for being a bit too trusting does not mean they deserve a repeat prank,’ Peter declared before frowning. ‘Whatever did happen to those mushrooms?’

‘Apparently they were confiscated then discarded,’ Remus replied thoughtfully.

‘I still don’t believe they were actually discarded,’ Sirius grimaced. He had rather been looking forward to trying those mushrooms before they got caught in Greenhouse One by Professor McGonagall.

‘Filch keeps all the confiscated stuff. You know, he was walking a bit funny for a little while that term,’ James laughed, remembering seeing Filch walk into a wall and Mrs Norris mewing up to him.

‘Anyway, of course we’re not going repeat pranks on those poor Hufflepuff’s, they’re getting the _other_ prank,’ Sirius circled the topic of conversation back.

‘Oh, _that_ prank,’ Peter giggled.

‘I reckon if we set off at midnight, we’d be good to set it up then,’ Remus offered his options and the others nodded in agreement.

Two hours later, when the clock struck midnight, the boys threw James’s invisibility cloak over them and stepped out of Gryffindor Tower, padding their way from the seventh floor of the castle to the basement. Once they were down in the soft candlelight that always illuminated the basement of the school, they passed the portrait where one had to tickle the pear to enter the kitchens and instead approached a large stack of barrels. The barrels were in a shadowy stone recess on the right hand side of the kitchen corridor.

Sirius crouched down to face a barrel, two from the bottom, in the middle of the second row. He drew out his wand and tapped on that barrel with it, in the rhythm of the words “Helga Hufflepuff.” He stood up and the four of them watched the lid of the barrel swing open to reveal a sloping, earthy passage inside the barrel.

‘Easiest Common Room to get into,’ Sirius muttered. The rest of them hummed in agreement and climbed their way into the barrel, following the passage softly so to not attract attention.

The passage lead them through to what Remus had to admit, was one of his favourite places on the Hogwarts grounds. They entered a cosy, low-ceiling room, similar to that of a badger’s den. Just this idea alone made the boys chuckle as to what they were about to do. Plants were dotted cheerfully around the room and even though the sun wasn’t making its way through the high circular windows, the room felt loud with light with its constant roaring fire and jaunty colours of black and yellow.

‘It’s like this room is literally calling out for this prank,’ James laughed as he stood in the middle of the room. He too, had to admit that this was one of the loveliest places in the castle to be.

‘Sorry, Helga, this lot thought you were asking for it,’ Remus saluted the large portrait of Helga Hufflepuff that hung over the wooden mantelpiece. She was currently sleeping, otherwise they were positive that she would be telling them off.

The moved close to the exit of the Common Room, wands raised and at the ready as they took one last glance around it. They were extremely glad that no Hufflepuff had decided to do some late night studying or throw a last minute party. The Map was already proving to be incredibly helpful for their mischief.

‘ _Apes Accersi!_ ’ the four of them whispered, and from their wands flew the largest swarm of bees they were sure anyone had ever seen. They migrated throughout the room, inhabiting every nook and cranny. The boys stayed and admired their masterpiece for a few minutes until the heard the portrait of Helga Hufflepuff wake up and exclaim in alarm. That was their cue to sprint out of the Hufflepuff Common Room and back to their own.

It hadn’t taken long for it to get around the school what the Hufflepuff’s had woken up to the following day. That same evening, the four Marauder’s found themselves in detention, with a very disgruntled Professor McGonagall sat at her desk in her classroom, observing them as they wrote lines.

‘What was with that girl who just stood in the middle of all those bees this morning? Is that just rumour, ‘cause if it did happen, that’s insane,’ Sirius asked with intrigue as he swung back on the hind legs of the chair he was sat in.

‘That was Annabel, I asked around. Apparently she comes from a long line of something Muggles call bee-keepers,’ James informed them.

‘She was like a bee whisperer or something, they all just listened to her and stopped moving from what I heard,’ Peter added in his dose of rumours he’d heard.

‘There’s one person I wouldn’t mind getting to know better,’ Sirius said suggestively, making Remus let out a loud groan.

‘I never know whether the reasons for you wanting to get to know someone better should scare me or astound me,’ he grumbled, dipping his quill into some more ink.

‘She can literally command an army of bees! Who wouldn’t want to be friends with that?’ Sirius exclaimed. ‘Plus, she’s fit,’ he added cheekily, making Remus mumble with disgruntlement.

‘Mr Black, you are in detention! Don’t be insolent and remain silent!’ McGonagall snapped at them, only making Sirius grin more, as her scolding of him always did.

‘Oh, c’mon, Minnie, it was funny! Besides, we only did it ‘cause we thought bees were the Hufflepuff mascots, I mean, just look at the colours!’ Sirius laughed, McGonagall staring pointedly at him.

‘Mr Black, please do not insult neither myself, you or your little comrades here by talking to me as if I am stupid. We all know I’m not and it won’t end well for you if you do,’ McGonagall spoke sternly.

‘Minnie, we would never treat you as if you were stupid,’ James teased her, throwing her a wink.

‘Don’t try to act smart, Mr Potter, quite honestly, you’re little prank came at the worst time possible for Professor Sprout and Hufflepuff House at the moment,’ McGonagall said, adjusting her glasses as the faces of the four boys fell slightly.

‘Why, what’s happened to the Hufflepuff’s?’ Remus asked, his face now serious.

‘Read the _Daily Prophet_ sometime, Mr Lupin, then you’ll know.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this is kinda mad, I love how much I've actually been able to write with this story :) ahaha  
> Love, Julia xx


	23. White Overture

Going to the kitchens alone on a Friday night once all classes were concluded for the week was one of Marlene McKinnon’s most looked forward to activities. Only once this year so far had she been cornered on her quick mission for some hot fudge brownies that the house elves so kindly now took to preparing for her every time she went down.

‘McKinnon!’ her name was called out just as she entered the basement. She stopped in her tracks and rolled her eyes before she turned around to be faced with Edward Tate. She flashed him a faux smile.

‘Edward, what’s up?’ she asked, trying not to convey her annoyance, as all she wanted at this moment to in time was to be surrounded by a swarm of adorable house elves.

‘I was wondering how your holiday’s were. We didn’t manage to catch up last time we were at practice,’ Edward stated handsomely, moving closer to her. Marlene raised an eyebrow.

‘They were alright, but actually, Edward, I have a kind of standing appointment with someone, so I’ve really got to go,’ Marlene said, starting to turn back around, but the Chaser caught her upper arm with his strong hand.

‘I also wanted to ask, Marlene, if you would like to attend the next Hogsmeade weekend with me,’ Edward asked her, his hand not leaving her arm. He was still smiling, but Marlene didn’t like the look in his eye. It was shifty, uncomfortable.

‘I’m flattered, Edward, but –’

‘Oh, come on. I know no one else has invited you, I asked around,’ he smirked down at her.

‘Believe me, I don’t need a guy to invite me. Ever,’ Marlene frowned up at him, beginning to get frustrated, not only at his words, but the hand that wouldn’t release her.

‘Don’t lie, every girl wants a guy to take her to the village,’ Edward chuckled cockily, making himself seem more and more disgusting in Marlene’s eyes.

‘Funny, I remember that’s what you said when you asked me to Slughorn’s, and I still said no,’ Marlene retorted, finally shaking herself out of Edward’s grasp. His eyes narrowed in on her.

‘I want to go on a date with you, McKinnon,’ he demanded, eyes growing dark.

‘And I'm _still_ giving you the same answer, it's no,’ she answered, taking a step back from him.

‘McKinnon, everyone knows you’re a –’

‘She said no, Tate,’ Regulus Black suddenly appeared from behind Edward, walking into Marlene’s view and settling beside her. ‘And I recommend you rethink whatever misogynistic comment you were about to let come out your arse there.’

‘Black, this doesn’t concern you.’

‘It does when you’re hounding my friend. She said no, respect that. I suspect that you don’t want to start building up a reputation as a creep,’ Regulus smirked to him and Edward scowled back.

‘See you around, McKinnon,’ he said ominously and turned on his heel to leave, leaving Regulus and Marlene alone together.

‘Cheers for that, I couldn’t shake him off,’ Marlene shuddered as Regulus turned to face her.

‘No problem.’

‘How’d you find me anyway?’

‘I remembered you went to the kitchens every Friday, and I wanted to come and talk to you. Lucky I chose today,’ Regulus added darkly, looking behind him to see if Edward was possible lurking behind them.

‘Yeah,’ Marlene nodded. ‘What did you want to talk about?’

‘If I’m not mistaken, you received a letter from my mother in the post over Christmas, an invitation for this summer, if you will,’ Regulus posed his words as a question, but Marlene knew him better than that.

‘Alright, detective, cut the bullshit, what do you want to know about the invitation?’ Marlene questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

‘Don’t go.’

‘Wasn’t planning to.’

‘It’s not even a party. Mother has invited a selection of pureblood girls for Sirius to choose which one he’d like to pursue,’ Regulus informed her. The reaction he wasn’t expecting was a snort from Marlene.

‘And what, Mrs Walburga Black actually deemed me suitable as a prospective candidate?’ Marlene chortled, a grin so wide on her face it almost tickled her ears.

‘You come from a semi-respectable pureblood family in her eyes, so yes, you are allowed to be "courted,"’ Regulus smirked, which only made Marlene giggle more.

‘I’m not even a full pureblood, I’m a quarter Veela. Surely that would make me a filthy half-breed in dear Walburga’s eyes,’ Marlene chimed musically. Regulus watched Marlene’s long lashes brush her face as she blinked, blue eyes looking up at him, her hair almost sparkling in the candlelight.

 _No guy forgets it_ , Regulus thought to himself. ‘You know my mother doesn’t know about your Veela heritage, hardly anyone other than your mates does. Your family have kept that pretty well under wraps until you came along. Besides, you’re pretty, Merlin knows the House of Black could use some of that.’

‘Oh stop, Black, you’re making me blush,’ Marlene said teasingly, as her eyes caught movement behind Regulus. ‘Oh, hi Professor.’

Lola Sallow stepped towards them, the strange smile that often adorned her face in place. She avoided eye contact with Marlene as always, which the blonde couldn’t deny to finding a bit odd.

‘Hello. Mr Black, I was looking for you discuss a small matter, so Miss McKinnon, if you wouldn’t mind,’ Sallow gestured for Marlene to leave. Marlene held in her groan, having still not made it to the kitchens, but wasn’t in the mood to make any more of a scene than there already had been today.

‘Of course. See you later Reg, Professor,’ Marlene bid them goodbye. Sallow gave her an absent-minded smile before redirecting her focus back onto the youngest Black son.

‘What is it this time?’ Regulus asked, his tone bored. He had quit with his politeness towards Sallow sometime ago. The witch didn’t seem to mind, but he was rather sick of her lurking around every corner, waiting to catch him doing something he wasn’t supposed to.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew, with the way Sallow was behaving, that she had to be in some sort of contact with his immediate family. He certainly wouldn’t put past them spying on him, even at school. Part of him wanted to warn Sirius that this was going on, that he should watch his back, but he didn’t know what sort of response he’d receive, and he was sure Sallow wasn’t paying as close attention to Sirius as she was to him. Regulus hated Sallow’s closeness.

‘I don’t think your mother would very much appreciate you discussing her plans to other students around the school, particularly those from other Houses,’ Sallow spoke sourly as she circled the boy. She too, knew Regulus wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t going to speak to him as though he was either.

‘How do you know what my mother would appreciate,’ Regulus challenged. His tone alone was enough to make Sallow chuckle.

‘Oh, please, Mr Black, your family’s views and values were never secret. One needs only to ask another about your family and instantly get a response for what they stand for,’ she spoke slyly and watched him like a hawk.

‘They’re my family first, and I can talk about them to whomever I like. You’re bold to assume you have any sort of control over that,’ Regulus spoke boldly, unafraid to state his thoughts. He knew Sallow could do nothing serious to him, his mother would have her head for it. He knew he was the last will and testament, the last heir of the House of Black, and they would protect him at all costs. He’d be stupid not to use his power to his advantage.

‘All I wish to tell you, Mr Black, is be careful who you choose to surround yourself with. Gryffindor’s are not the most trustworthy types,’ Sallow spoke with depth, and stopped circling to walk away. Regulus snorted to himself.

‘Why did you disappear?’ he asked daringly, causing the professor to stop in her tracks.

‘What?’

‘Before you came to Hogwarts, you were nowhere to be found. Where were you?’ Regulus elaborated, glad to have caught her off guard for once. Sallow didn’t turn to face him.

‘That is none of your concern. And if you know what’s good for you, Mr Black, you’ll be careful not to ask again,’ she poised grievously.

‘Is that a threat?’

‘View it more as a promise.’

* * *

There was nothing Lily loved quite as much as the first snowfall of the season. Hogwarts had been rather lacking the cold white rain before the Christmas holidays, and now Lily sat with Remus in the Library, watching the first snowflakes fall delicately over the castle grounds. She set down the quill she was writing with and propped up her chin in her hand, gazing softly out the window.

Lily missed the days of snow she’d have with her sister, Petunia. Before she had left for Hogwarts, herself and Petunia, in all their sisterly glory, would run out into the field behind their house, make snow angels and build snow men, before returning to their home and sitting in front of the fire with the hot chocolates their mother gave them upon arrival. Lily would always sit in their father’s armchair and Petunia in their mother’s.

Gregory Evans and his youngest daughter had a wonderful and special relationship. He would defend his redheaded daughter against the strong opinions of his eldest and would always give Lily a little extra sweet for her do-gooding’s. It was their little secret and made Lily feel undeniably special, especially since she went off to Hogwarts.

Lily loved her mother dearly, but it wasn’t quite the same as with her father. She loved to breathe in the familiar smell of his cigar smoke that enveloped him and his armchair. Whenever she was upset, he would pull her in for a tight hug where the smell invaded her nostrils and comforted her, the taste of a powdery, hard boiled sweet almost instantly attacking her next. He would reassure her and surprise her with a new book every time she returned and left for Hogwarts. Over the past few years, it had been Gregory who had accompanied his daughter on the snowy outings instead of Petunia. Lily couldn’t decide which company she preferred more.

‘Penny for your thoughts?’ Remus broke Lily out of her trance and she turned her head to see Remus reading a book called _The Hairy Heart: A Guide to Wizard’s who Won’t Commit._

‘You trying to figure out if Black has commitment issues?’ she asked with a laugh as Remus quickly dog-eared the page he was reading and quickly closed over the book.

‘Ha-ha, no,’ Remus tried to play off coolly, glad that Lily hadn’t had time to read the blurb of the book. ‘You did look deep in thought, though.’

‘I just love the first snow, it’s so beautiful. I’m a tad disappointed that it didn’t snow over Christmas. My dad and I would always go out at the first snowfall back home and have fun with it. Maybe it's just as well we didn’t this year though, he had a nasty cough during the break,’ Lily aired her thoughts out as Remus smiled at the idea of Lily throwing a snowball at Mr Evans, even though he’d never met her father.

‘He sounds like fun,’ Remus said, happily watching Lily reminisce on happy memories with her father.

‘I wish I could just whizz him over to school, just for a second for us to have this first snowfall together,’ she said, a slight sadness in her voice that made Remus’s brain jump into action.

‘Come on, Miss Evans, get up,’ Remus said, as he himself jumped onto his two legs and grabbed his coat to toss over himself. Lily stared at Remus in surprise, as though he’d lost his mind.

‘Remus, what are you on about, we’re hardly dressed for going outside!’ Lily exclaimed as Remus pulled her to her feet and tossed her red, soft coat to her.

‘Fuck that! I know that I’m no good substitute for a renowned Mr Evans, but I’ll be damned, Red, if I don’t at least make your first snowfall of 1976 somewhat memorable,’ Remus declared, grabbing Lily by the hand, and pulling her out of the Library.

Choosing to ignore the nickname of Red that the Marauders had adopted in calling her, she allowed Remus to pull her along the chilly corridors of the castle and out into the open air, where the snow was already falling faster and heavier from the sky than she had witnessed in the Library. She could smell it in the air as she let the frozen water fill her lungs, closing her eyes to embrace it.

‘So, Lupin, now that you’ve dragged me out here, what are we going to do?’ Lily asked as she saw Remus look at her. A mischievous smirk graced Remus’s face, the smirk that let everyone always know the Marauders were up to no good.

Remus led a gradually snow-engulfed Lily down the grounds, towards Hagrid’s Hut. The werewolf, however, strode off course and started leading her towards the Forbidden Forest, which Lily first thought was a joke, but the closer they got to it, the more she realised it wasn’t. She stopped him right at the edge of the woodland, grabbing his arm to stop him from entering.

‘Remus, we can’t go in there! It’s not allowed and, besides, we’re both Prefects, we should _not_ be condoning this,’ Lily braked, only to be responded to with an infamous raised Lupin brow.

‘Lily, I am _all_ for the rules, really, can’t get enough of them!’ Remus started, already in a sarcastic tone, which only made Lily roll her eyes. ‘But there is also this other idea that rules are meant to be broken,’ he added with a wink.

‘Not really the point I was trying to make,’ Lily giggled. Remus had it in him to be quite the comedian if he was feeling up for it that day.

‘Also, if you don’t come with me, you’ll be kind of ruining my plan here, Lils,’ Remus continued, comically taking one large step so he was over the edge of the Forest and in between two trees. Lily shook her head and let out a sigh of amusement.

Giving in, she followed the werewolf between the trees, and they made their way through the woods. It was dark, so much so that if one were to wake up in the midst of the Forest (with reasons yet to be discovered for a situation like that to occur) the time of day would be unknown until the outskirts were reached. Despite the protection the ground had from the tall trees above, it seemed to be covered with more snow than the area that surrounded the Forest. It crunched delightfully under the feet of Remus and Lily as they left their tracks through the woods. Lily may as well have been walking blind as she had no idea where Remus was taking her.

Remus had been walking quite fast through the Forest with his long legs, Lily having to do at least a double set for every single one he took. The closer he got to his destination, the slower he walked, wanting Lily to be mesmerised by the scene that would be revealed to her.

‘Welcome to your own winter wonderland, Lily Evans,’ Remus whispered before he moved his broad back to the side and her eyes witnessed the panorama before her.

She gasped. A body of water, too large to call a pond but to small to call a lake, stretched out before her, the edges beginning to freeze over. Lily suddenly wished she’d brought her skates from back home, she could have had her own, private skating rink. In the distance, two stags could be seen, trying to not slip on the icy edge of the water, drinking delicately. Snow had already covered the grass around the water generously, the need for gloves growing. Snowflakes fell down upon them like fairies in the tales Lily had grown up listening to. This clearing in the Forest was ethereal.

‘Remus, how did you fin – OW!’ Lily exclaimed as she felt something cold and hard hit the side of her arm. She whipped her head to the side to see a grinning Remus, already moulding himself another snowball, his fingers red from the bite of cold.

‘Well, this is my plan, unless you have a problem with it?’ Remus laughed, as he tossed the snowball from one hand to another, his warmth making it already start to melt. Lily grabbed a fistful of snow and started shaping it.

‘Oh, you’re in for it Lupin.’

Remus laughed loudly before sprinting in the opposite direction as Lily started running towards him, chucking the snowball at him, and attempting to dodge the ones that were thrown back. Remus, having the better aim, managed to splat a few chunks of snow straight into her face. The chase continued halfway round the water, with Lily slowing down as Remus’s werewolf stamina kept him going longer.

Lily eventually dropped down into the snow on her back, grinning and panting from the playful fight that occurred. She heard Remus’s steps in the snow come nearer to her and then felt his body next to her as he sat down, hearing his shallow breaths. Lily sat up to be shoulder to shoulder with him and smiled up at the sandy-haired boy.

‘Thanks for this. I – I needed it,’ Lily stuttered, drawing her knees into her chest, and wrapping her arms around her legs, hugging herself. Remus gave her a closed lipped smile and draped his arm over Lily’s shoulders, pulling her into him.

‘No problem. I’m sorry I can’t magically bring your dad here, but I’m sure, one day, you’ll be able to bring him here. I think he’d love it,’ Remus said, rubbing Lily’s arm through her jacket to try and warm her up.

‘Graduation, I’ll do it. Even though there’ll be no snow, he’d love it either way,’ Lily smiled and sniffled, wiping a hand over her eye.

‘You okay, Red?’ Remus asked, and Lily nodded furiously in response.

‘I’m fine, I guess I’m just feeling a little homesick,’ she responded quickly, so too not dwell on the subject further. She didn’t to talk about her worries with Petunia, or the fact she had found a letter from the hospital addressed to her father, asking him urgently to come and visit the sterile building. Not right now.

Remus didn’t push the subject. He simply pulled his friend closer, hoping that any of his heat would transfer onto Lily and heat the redhead up. She had started to shiver slightly.

‘What about you? Any troubles of your own? Any _girl_ troubles,’ Lily wiggled her brows suggestively, making Remus roll his eyes.

‘Don’t start,’ he muttered.

‘I’m just wondering when you’re finally going to tell Dorcas you _love_ her,’ Lily teased, pushing Remus slightly so he moved to balance on his hipbone before falling back into place.

Truthfully, Remus would deny he fancied Dorcas until he was blue in the face. Yes, the boys had accepted who he was, as did Marlene, but Dorcas? That was a different ball game. She was special, untouched, and full of life. Remus would never forgive himself if he burdened someone like Dorcas with a problem like his. Even in his wildest dreams, he could never date her. He was a monster, something to be feared and cast aside without a second thought. He knew she would run screaming if she ever even caught a glimpse of what he was.

Remus couldn’t do that to Dorcas, couldn’t burden her. He also didn’t think he could live with himself when he saw those chocolate, doe-eyes of hers change from friendship to disgust with him. It was safer to keep her at an arms-length.

‘I could let you in on a secret,’ Lily said cheerfully, breaking the silence he’d created after her last sentence. ‘She fancies the fuck out of you too.’

That made his stomach flip. It made a shiver run up his spine, although whether it was from the cold or Lily’s words, he couldn’t tell. But he could make a rational judgement. He couldn’t be shivering from the cold when he suddenly felt sweatier and more flushed than on holiday in July.

They weren’t the only ones discussing relationships that day. Frank and Lewis Fortescue were sat in an awkward battle of arms in their dorm, the only ones currently in it. Josh and Edward were nowhere to be seen, leaving them in the uncomfortable silence, Frank’s relationship heavy in the air.

‘So,’ Lewis voiced awkwardly, making Frank look up from the book he was reading. ‘You and Alice?’

Frank cleared his throat. ‘Um, yeah…yeah, me and Alice.’

‘How long has that been going on?’ Lewis asked, friendlily enough, his tone surprising Frank. Frank scratched the back of his neck. Essentially, he’d broken the golden rule. You don’t date your friend’s sister. But Alice was different to any girl Frank had ever met. She was smart and mature and funny and (though Frank wouldn’t say it out loud to Lewis in fear of getting his head spun to the back) really, really hot.

‘Since last March,’ Frank confirmed. Lewis stayed silent for a moment, performing a long sort of nod that Frank was unsure of what meant.

‘And you like her? Like, really, _truly_ like her?’ Lewis emphasised. Now Frank could hear the slightly threatening, older brother menace.

‘I do. She’s amazing, Lewis,’ Frank admitted, watching the small smirk grow on Lewis’s face.

‘I know. You hurt her, you know that gives me consent to throw you off the Astronomy Tower,’ Lewis grinned.

‘We can sign a contract tomorrow,’ Frank joked.

‘Just treat her right, man,’ Lewis said. ‘I do have one question, though. Why didn’t you tell me in the first place?’ Lewis taunted cheekily, resulting in a pillow being chucked in his face by Frank.

‘You’re funny, Fortescue,’ Frank rolled his eyes.

‘It’s in the genes,’ Lewis winked cockily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we all definitely don't like Edward now, the creep :). One of the main points I always had for this fic was to be able to show and define the close friendship Lily and Remus have, and I hope I'm starting to do that. I plan on developing that a lot.  
> In other things, I burnt myself on my curling iron and now have a plaster permanently stuck on my finger. Always check if things are hot, people, whether they're hair tools, microwave food or boys ;)  
> Love, Julia xx


	24. A Valentine Notch

James’s brain may as well have been a tureen of boredom soup as, many minutes ago now, he stopped listening to Professor Binns’s vacuum cleaner drone sometime during the talks of witch hunts of the fourteenth century. James only bolted awake when he heard his, thankfully closed, inkpot drop to the floor with a crash, startling half the class into consciousness along with him. Binns didn’t so much as even acknowledge the commotion, continuing his lecture to the class, facing the blackboard, his ghostly back towards them all. He never worried about the class misbehaving because they were all silent from falling asleep anyway, although, according to the ghost, they were all deeply entranced by what he had to say.

The bespectacled, messy haired boy leaned down to collect the inkpot into his hand. He caught sight of the fading pink tips in Peter’s hair, which Sirius had pranked him with for Valentine’s day, saying it made him more appealing to the female population. James was pretty sure he had never seen Peter that determined to murder anyone before. He suddenly felt more awake, his plan to catch up on a bit of sleep during the class forgotten.

‘Psst! Moony!’ James whispered, throwing a ball of parchment Remus’s way. It hit the werewolf on the head, snapping him out of his snooze.

‘Is this important?’ Remus asked, somewhere between a yawn and a groan. ‘I’m quite enjoying this mid-morning nap, and unless you’re trying to tell me Pads is claustrophobic or something, I’d rather continue napping.’

‘Why would I be telling you Padfoot is claustrophobic?’ James questioned in confusion.

‘I’ve always believed that Pads is secretly scared of Santa Claus,’ Remus chuckled lazily, while James’s eyes lit up and he elbowed Sirius, who was sat next to him and appeared to be in a deep sleep.

‘Oi, Pads!,’ James whispered loudly, waking Sirius from his slumber.

‘What?’

‘I thought red was one of the colours you found sexy,’ James sniggered, Sirius’s feature twisting in perplexity.

‘Huh?’ Sirius puzzled, too sleepy to comprehend what was going on before him.

‘Stop, you’re scaring him,’ Remus laughed as he observed the scene. Yawning, Sirius turned his head away from the two boys, returning his head to the uncomfortable pillow of books he’d made for himself and continued sleeping.

Snickering, James returned his attention the sandy-haired werewolf a desk away from him.

‘Sorry to disappoint, but that’s not what I wanted to bother you with,’ James admitted once he’d calmed his tittering down.

‘What have you got it mind?’ Remus asked, feeling more awake by the second. James had that look on his face that meant he was up to something, and Remus was not usually one to turn down the opportunity to do something funny.

‘I reckon we need to take Black over here down a notch. The Valentine’s cards and attention he got have gone to his head and I don’t think I like this new Padfoot,’ James said mischievously. Remus’s eyebrow twitched.

‘I think the worst part of the sentence was the fact that you think Padfoot was any different before Valentine’s day,’ Remus said in jest and James rolled his eyes at the werewolf’s mock seriousness.

‘Come on Moony, let’s strike while the iron’s hot, hit him where it hurts,’ James berated. In his mind, Remus had already agreed to whatever ridiculous plan James wanted to set in motion against Sirius. But he enjoyed the small amount of begging he was entitled to before he inevitably agreed.

‘And where, exactly, does it hurt?’ he asked teasingly, checking his watch to see that there were only a few minutes left until lunch.

‘His vanity of course!’ James exclaimed, slightly louder than he meant to, stirring a few surrounding students. ‘I’m pretty sure Peter wouldn’t object to a prank on him either, given the pink hair thing,’ his voice dropped back down to a whisper.

‘Alright, fill me in on the plan later, it’s too risky that he’ll overhear in here,’ Remus agreed, and James leaned back in his seat so they could both take Sirius in. They needn’t have worried. The boy was dead to the world.

There’s no set of students that had quite so much movement to get out of a class as the students leaving History of Magic. The lunch bell for them was like a shot of adrenaline, a wakeup call to restart the day.

Sirius was having a particular resurgence of energy as with a devilishly charming smile and plentiful eye contact, he flirted with a group of blonde Ravenclaw girls, presumably the year below. Peter was still glaring at him for the abomination that had come of his hair, even though Sirius apologised several times. Albeit, he couldn’t get through even one of those apologies with a stutter inducing giggle.

‘At least give yourself a challenge, Merlin’s sake, you’re practically giving yourself away,’ Alice huffed as she dropped down into the seat across from Sirius who now redirected his grin to her.

‘Evans, want to go Hogsmeade with me?’ James interjected, leaning over the table to look at the redhead.

‘I’d rather go with the Peeves than you,’ Lily replied automatically, not even offering James a glance.

‘Fair enough,’ Peter chortled, earning a scowl from James.

‘My dear Fortescue, I cannot help it if girls like to throw themselves at me. If anything, it would be rude not to return the attention they so graciously give me,’ Sirius stated in the most theatrically posh accent he could muster. All four girls and Remus groaned in dismay at his words.

‘You’re such a pervert,’ Dorcas shook her head at him and making Sirius grin more.

‘I’m sixteen and male, what do you expect?’ he asked rhetorically, his accent back to normal and theatrics dropped. His words earned splutters of laughter and hums of agreement from several boys along the table.

‘It just makes you look a bit desperate, mate,’ Dorcas elaborated, tearing a piece of bread, and popping it in her mouth.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. ‘What I’m doing isn’t desperate, _that_ ,’ Sirius pointed to the group of Ravenclaws, flashing their pearly whites and flicking their hair at him, ‘is what desperate looks like. _This_ ,’ he pointed back at himself, ‘is what benefitting from the situation looks like. Brush up on your flirting skills, Dork, and _what_ are you laughing at?’

Then end of Sirius’s sentence was directed at Marlene, who had started giggling halfway through his explanation. She looked at him with an innocent smile that he knew was far from its face value.

‘I just liked the lack of pronoun in that sentence. Made it seem like you were dog or something,’ she snickered, Sirius’s eyes narrowing in on her.

‘And I’d be a very friendly dog at that,’ Sirius bit back, a smirk a building on his face.

‘I’ll say, you hump anything that moves,’ Marlene retorted, an identical smirk to his on her own features.

‘Not true, I’ve not shagged Remus,’ Sirius announced, earning a smack upside the head from the werewolf, who hadn’t looked up from eating his soup.

‘Remus wouldn’t let you, he’s got standards,’ Marlene chuckled. ‘By the way, I think your fan club is getting annoyed at you talking to me.’

‘There is no need to try and distract my attention now, McKinnon, even though I know it can be very overwhelming for you,’ he teased her, throwing a wink in her direction, which made her eyebrow raise.

‘That lot deserve the Veela blood more than me, they look like they’re about to peck my eyes out, so send your winks _that_ way,’ Marlene put her hand on Sirius’s jaw and pushed his head away so his eyeline were back on the Ravenclaw girls. The instant his eyes were back on them, they started giggling, flirting, and smiling again, only the occasional dagger thrown Marlene’s way.

‘It’s alright, McKinney, I’ll be your knight in shining armour,’ Sirius struck the last word. It gave him satisfaction, despite the smack upside the head he received from the feisty blonde.

‘So, how many of that lot sent you Valentine’s praises?’ James asked, now that the bickering had stopped.

‘Can we stop calling girls “that”!’ Lily groaned, but Sirius waved her off.

‘At least four of them,’ he replied gleefully.

Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice were among the last to remain in the Great Hall this particular lunch time. The boys had headed off, probably to wind themselves up in some sort of mischief, while they remained, indulging in the delicacies Hogwarts offered.

As far as Alice was aware, she and Dorcas had made up. They hadn’t so much as spoken about what occurred at James’s Christmas party. Dorcas had simply walked up to Alice one day in the Library and began talking with companionship again. Alice was more than delighted, as she had greatly missed Dorcas over their period of not speaking.

Dorcas had missed Alice also, but couldn’t remove that bit of resentment that remained lodged in her heart. As much as she wanted things back to normal, she still couldn’t quite understand why Alice had kept something so seemingly simple like a boyfriend from her. She didn’t show the bitterness, as she wanted the feud to be over. She didn’t quite understand her own long-lasting feelings towards Alice in this case if she was being honest with herself. She was never one to hold grudges, but she couldn’t figure out why this secret stung her so much. It was just a boy.

‘You up for a game of Gobstones tonight?’ Dorcas asked Alice with a smile, though not as bright as she’d normally have it. Alice didn’t seemed to notice and returned one of her own.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t. I made plans with Frank tonight, we’re having a little date night,’ Alice refused giddily. Dorcas grimaced and shrank back into herself while Lily’s eyes lit up from the discussion of a date.

‘Ooh, that’s exciting, what are you planning on doing?’ she quizzed enthusiastically, leaning her elbows on the table.

‘Well, I was thinking that the two of us should just head down to the kitchen, you know, have a little dessert moment. The elves down there love us, we’ve been so many times. They actually helped Frank and I sort out an argument we were having a few months back, they’re very good therapists,’ Alice laughed, remembering the scowl on Frank’s face when most of the elves agreed with her. They were like a little jury.

‘That is adorable, I love it!’ Lily said dreamily.

‘But also, please, if you have any cute date suggestion ideas, let me know,’ Alice directed towards all of them. Marlene raised a brow over the copy of the _Daily Prophet_ she was reading, which went unnoticed by the rest.

‘I actually know a really cute place you could take Frank,’ Lily said, grinning at the idea. ‘It’s in the Forbidden Forest, I could show you sometime. There’s this clearing in it that has this sort of lake in the middle and it just looks truly magical, I’m pretty sure I glimpsed a unicorn last time I went! You could have a picnic, it’d be so cute.’

‘That sounds like an amazing date, and the place sounds insane. How did you find it?’ Alice gushed, already thinking of placing a little picnic blanket on the ground for Frank and herself to enjoy.

‘Remus took me there a while back. It was all snowy back then and so beautiful and we had the most wonderful chat. You will not regret taking Frank there, it’s so romantic,’ Lily replied excitedly.

‘Um, I have to go to the toilet, I’ll see you guys in class,’ Dorcas uttered quickly, grabbing her bag.

The three girls left watched her rush out the hall without so much of a glance back. Alice locked eye contact with Lily and frowned.

‘That was odd,’ Lily said, Alice humming in agreement. Marlene rolled her deep blue eyes and closed over her newspaper violently, causing the other two to jump.

‘You two aren’t actually _that_ dim, are you?’ she asked, frowning at Lily and Alice in a way that made it seem like they should feel stupid about something, but they weren’t sure what.

‘What do you mean?’ Alice asked, bewilderment clear on her face. Marlene fought the urge to not roll her eyes again.

‘Well, for starters, you’re banging on about your relationship with Frank that even the fucking Hogwarts house elves knew about before your best friend did,’ Marlene started, feeling as though she was very much pointing out the obvious in what was wrong with her friends conversation.

‘Yeah, but Alice had a right to keep that private if she wanted to,’ Lily defended her dark-haired friend. She wasn’t expecting Marlene to turn to face and glare her, taking her by surprise.

‘And _you_ ,’ Marlene said, somewhat maliciously. ‘You started going on about how you went to this incredibly amazing place, basically on a date, with the boy that _she_ likes. And you’re wondering why she just walked off all sad and disappointed! It doesn’t take a genius to work out!’

‘Remus and I were not on _any_ sort of date, surely she must know that! He and I are nothing more that friends! I literally told him while we were there that Cas really liked him,’ Lily tried to defend herself, Marlene sighing at her words.

‘Lils, you said it was all romantic, saying it was the perfect place to go on a date, and you went there with her crush. Surely you must see how that would upset Cas, even just a little bit,’ Marlene expanded.

‘You’re right,’ Lily sighed, ‘it wasn’t fair of me to put it like that, it wasn’t my intention to upset her. I’ll go find her, make sure she’s okay.’

‘She’ll probably be on the second floor toilets, they’re her favourite,’ Alice offered as she watched Lily get up.

‘Thanks,’ the redhead sent a small smile and left the Great Hall.

Alice stared down into her magically clean plate. She could feel Marlene’s eyes on her, but she didn’t want to look up quite just yet.

‘Have you talked to Dorcas about Frank yet?’ Marlene asked, but it was more an accusatory statement towards Alice and both of them knew it. Alice looked up, biting her lip.

‘No, not really. I guess we’ve kind of been avoiding the topic,’ Alice admitted, moving from her lip to now bite the end of her thumbnail.

‘You have to talk to each other about it, otherwise you’re never going to get past this. You broke her trust, essentially.’

‘I know, I know. I didn’t mean for Frank and me to be out so soon, though, I’ve not even had time to work out how I’ll put forward an explanation or anything. I am quite surprised we managed to keep it a secret for so long though.’

‘Oh, please, you kept that a secret about as well as James keeps it secret that he fancies Lily,’ Marlene said flippantly, surprising Alice.

‘What?’

‘You kept it a secret well from people you _meant_ to keep it a secret from, like Cas or Lewis. But to everyone else, you were _so_ unsubtle. People are just too wrapped up in their own lives to notice. You literally walked through half of Hogsmeade once, holding hands before you broke apart, remembering where you were,’ Marlene exposed, making Alice’s eyes grow wide with shock from the revelations.

‘How long have you known?’ she questioned, worry evident on her face.

‘Since September. I reckon I’m one of the only ones to notice. Others would too if they so involved in their own petty drama. It’s truly amazing how much people miss, even when it’s right under their noses,’ Marlene trailed off, Alice already seeing that she was about to go on a tangent.

‘Why did you never say anything to me?’

‘I guessed you would come out with it in your own time, so I left you to it. I didn’t expect it to take you _quite_ so long to tell us, but each to their own. Oh, and I know that you were trying to chat me up to Edward because he threatened to expose you. You really aren’t subtle Al,’ Marlene snickered.

‘Merlin’s beard, woman, are you a detective? Fucking Auror genes,’ Alice exclaimed in wonder and annoyance, Marlene smirking at the statement.

‘I might as well be, not that you’re difficult to stalk,’ Marlene laughed, before turning on a more serious note. ‘But seriously, you’ve got to talk to Cas.’

‘I know, I know. I will, I promise.’

That evening, Remus was doing rounds on his own, ensuring that students weren’t out of bed. He did always find it ironic that he was one of the biggest troublemakers in the school, yet he was the one with the power to doll out detentions and hack house points. It gave him a delightful smirk and satisfaction, a feeling that was definitely safer with him as a Prefect rather than James.

Remus turned a corner, moving further into the darkness. He’d hate to admit it, but this was one of the parts of the school where he very much liked that Alice, his Prefect partner, would move closer to him. It would make them both feel a bit safer in the darkness, especially when a painting would stir, or a ghost would glide past. Although they were used to those Hogwarts aspects, one couldn’t deny that they always felt a little spooky.

‘Shit!’ Remus exclaimed as he suddenly walked into something smaller than him. Instantly, a blue light was summoned, and Remus stepped back to see Professor McGonagall standing a step away from him now, in her tartan dressing gown. The hair that normally sat in a tight bun under her pointed, black hat now travelled down her back in a long braid. Remus was surprised, she looked so … well, much less scary.

‘We’ll just ignore the use of profanity there, Mr Lupin, I’d say there’s no reason it wasn’t uncalled for,’ McGonagall said, as she held her wand between them and smoothed down her dressing gown. Remus chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

‘Are you alright, Professor?’

‘Yes, I am fine, thank you. I’m normally never out at this hour, but Professor Flitwick called me to show me something.’

‘Oh?’ Remus questioned, hoping she would expand. She seemed quite relaxed tonight.

‘Yes, he tells me to come look out his window with him and there was the most peculiar selection of animals running across the ground. There was definitely a stag and some form of dog. We were also pretty sure that there was a rat on the dogs back, but we couldn’t be sure. It was quite comical sight,’ McGonagall chuckled. She then moved forward, patting Remus on the shoulder as she started to leave. ‘Well, I’m off to bed, you should be too, Mr Lupin.’

She left a head-shaking, eye-rolling Remus alone in the dark. The werewolf turned on his heel and set in stride to Gryffindor Tower. Outside, running around like wild animals, was not where he thought his friends were supposed to be tonight, and he knew, for a fact, that they would be rushing to return to the dorm before Remus arrived to simply boast about their recent adventure.

He double-stepped the staircase that lead up to the dormitories and entered the boys ones. Probably the thing he was least expecting happened to him has he entered his own dorm. Taken by surprise wouldn’t even begin to describe it.

‘WHAT THE FUCK!’ Remus yelled, louder than he meant to. The second he’d entered the room, he was covered in pink slime and feathers, coating him from head to toe. It had splatted across the floor and he could hear the cackling laughs of the three friends he shared the room with in front of him.

‘Happy belated Valentine’s day, Moony,’ Remus heard Sirius taunt him as he wiped the pink goo from obstructing his vision. ‘Loving the new pink hair-do by the way.’

‘ _You_ ,’ Remus said furiously, pointing a finger at James. ‘You said all this was supposed to be a prank on him!’ he redirected his finger to point at Sirius.

‘Honestly, Moony, you’ve got to agree that it was kind of genius to have you set up your own prank,’ James hooted. Remus rushed towards the mirror to see that, indeed, his hair had been turned the bright pink that Peter had to bear merely a week ago.

‘You were supposed to be in detention with Hagrid! What the fuck were you doing running around outside?’ Remus exasperated, beside himself that he’d fallen victim to one of James and Sirius’s less thought out, stupid pranks that they liked to pull.

‘Now _that_ part really was genius,’ Peter chuckled, the other two buzzing with agreement.

‘We purposefully ran around around a bit outside Flitwick’s as we knew he’d call for Minnie the second he saw us as they’re quite good friends and he’s into weird shit,’ James explained delightedly, clearly proud of his achievements. ‘We knew you’d be patrolling that corridor and that you’d run into Minnie along the way and she’d tell you about it!’

‘Honestly, it couldn’t have gone more smoothly,’ Sirius finished James off, a chuffed smile on his face.

‘How the fuck do I get this out my hair?’ Remus pouted, desperately wanting a shower now he’d gotten past the initial shock of falling victim of such a childish prank. He was rather surprised that the boys had managed to pull it off so flawlessly.

‘Yeah, that’s the fun bit. The only way to get it out is to allow it to fade naturally,’ Sirius said through a cheeky grin and gritted teeth. He almost hid himself under the bed from the deathly scowl Remus sent his way at the revelation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awh, poor Remus becoming the victim of his own prank :) ahaha  
> I just want to thank all you guys for all your continued support, you're fucking amazing and I can't even express into to words how much I appreciate it :) I'm in Wales currently where the wifi is dog shite so #blackinnonweek2020 had been stressful! If you want to check out my story for it, its called London :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	25. The Sacred Twenty-Eight

OWLs were striding ever nearer for the fifth year students, many of them who were finally starting to feel the panic of not having worked half as hard as they were supposed to. Teachers were setting more work than many of them had ever experienced, and deadline dates grew shorter, despite the workload increasing. Slowly, as the seasons changed from winter to spring, the Library could be seen filling up with more students whose noses were stuck in books and knuckles were blistered from the heavy usage of quills. Trees blossomed and the sun started peeking through the heavy overcast of grey clouds, teasing those who weren’t able to enjoy it.

Despite the weather growing lighter, there seemed to be a dark atmosphere that hung in the Hogwarts air, it seeped into the corners. On a usual day, one could struggle to identify it as people busied themselves in their own problems, going about their lives as usual. To the more sensitive, there was a definite chill in the air.

James and Sirius were amongst some of the only fifth years that had decided not to suffocate themselves with books. With most areas of the school stuffy with studiers, they had braved the breezy air during their lunch break and were sat under one of the largest trees that dotted the shore of the Black Lake. Despite the bite in the air, if you were sat in a specific spot where the sun hit, one was warmed up delightfully.

James was laying on his back, attempting to sunbathe and sleep at the same time, his robes providing protection from the dew that lay on the grass. Sirius was on his front, the Map opened on the ground in front of his eyes as he scanned it, for seemingly no particular reason. James couldn’t blame him. It was quite the masterpiece, both artistically and magically.

‘Makes me nervous when you have the Map out like that,’ James hummed as he squinted his eyes to observe Sirius’s actions.

‘There’s no one around, don’t sweat,’ Sirius replied, taking his wand out of his pocket. ‘ _Mischief Managed_ ,’ he muttered.

‘I hate the fact Moony’s gone all studious on us. We don’t have our “innocent until proven guilty” guy to argue with the teachers,’ James chucked, flipping onto his stomach to block his face from the sun.

‘Selfish bastard, he took the golden angel reputation all for himself,’ Sirius snorted. ‘He’ll be shacked up there with the girls, they’re probably all studying to.’

‘Reckon we’re missing out on something there? Maybe that’s how he gets all the girls to be all friendly with them,’ James chuckled at the image of an uncomfortable, bookish Remus with twenty witches over him, trying to get his attention. Seemed a very unlikely scenario.

‘And friendly is all he gets out of them. That boy is the only guy who could pay for a prostitute and still end up in the friendzone,’ Sirius chortled at his own joke, one that made James laugh also.

‘He’s somehow still got Meadowes interested.’

‘How that girl has so much patience, I’ll never know.’

The faint bell that signalled the end of lunch could just be heard from where the two boys were sitting. Chucking their robes on and shoving the Map in a pocket, they headed off to Transfiguration. Bizarrely, today they didn’t plot the ways they could irritate McGonagall to show the immense love they had for her. The day felt grey.

They could feel McGonagall’s light stare on them as the two boys entered her classroom, and without thinking, the smug smirks that always adorned their features in the room automatically appeared. The class started as usual, fairly uneventful and compromised of McGonagall’s strict teaching.

‘And so, the dynamics of the spell – yes, Miss Macdonald?’ McGonagall interrupted her teachings suddenly. The Hufflepuff’s hand was waving in the air, quite a few people surprised by the action, as Mary Macdonald was known for being rather shy and meek.

‘Professor, sorry if I’m out of line, but I read this book last night and, well, I was wondering if you could explain what the Sacred Twenty-Eight is?’ Mary asked apprehensively. Lily looked up from her notetaking, surprise taking over her face.

‘A bloody disgrace is what it is,’ Sirius muttered bitterly. Lily, nervously looked his way, shutting her textbook as she did so.

‘Miss Macdonald, this is Transfiguration, not History of Magic. I suggest if you have any further questions on that, you ask Professor Binns of them,’ McGonagall replied to Mary sternly. Mary shrunk back into her chair and picked up her quill, ready for McGonagall to restart her lesson, but the professor was interrupted again.

‘With all due respect, Professor, Professor Binns doesn’t react kindly to when we go off lesson. He can get a bit snarky, and I think we’d understand the topic better if it came from you,’ Lily said boldly, but sweetly, everyone hearing the underlying tone which expressed that she thought Binns was a terrible teacher. The class drew a collective breath as McGonagall’s brows raised in surprise of Lily’s audaciousness.

‘You are aware that what I am about to explain to you does not speak kindly of Muggle-borns, Miss Evans,’ McGonagall challenged the talented redhead before her.

‘Yes,’ Lily responded, not so much as blinking an eye in retaliation.

‘Very well,’ McGonagall gave in with a sigh and placed her wand down on her desk. ‘The Sacred Twenty-Eight is an anonymous publication, broadcasted sometime around the 1930’s and 40’s, the exact date is unable to be confirmed. It produced a compendium of the truly pureblood families, as it was concerned with preserving the purity of bloodlines throughout the magical population. In Britain especially, many of these families on the list, unfortunately, sneer on those in the magical population who recognised that the wizarding world, at least in Europe, would have died out if we hadn’t married Muggles.

‘When the list was published, and even before, a hierarchy, somewhat understandably, was created between those who were purebloods and those who were known as half-bloods or Muggle-borns. Many of the pureblood community didn’t agree with the idea that magic should be shared with Muggles and wanted Britain to revert to what the American system still had. The States were able to keep their strict laws about Muggle and wizarding connections as they had more magical blood than Europe did. They had a large enough magical population to withstand being wiped out. Purebloods in Britain didn’t want to accept that through their actions, the magical population in Britain was on the brink of going extinct.

‘It is suspected that Salazar Slytherin himself was the one who concocted the prejudice against Muggles and those who came from, in his eyes, a descent lesser than a pureblood line. He is famously known for believing that all magical tutelage should be kept within only truly magical families, and that Muggle-borns were not worthy to study magic. The other Hogwarts founders did not agree with him and soon enough, Salazar left the school. However, his legacy and beliefs live on to this day, the Sacred Twenty-Eight being one of the most prominent pieces of evidence to that fact. The list of families can be found in the _Pureblood Directory_ , which most people believe was written by Cantankerous Nott, who is a part of the list, if I remember correctly,’ McGonagall finished. A pin drop could be heard in the classroom as they sat silently, looking up at her with various forms of expressions. McGonagall hoped she had explained it as diplomatically as possible.

‘It’s disgusting,’ Alice murmured in Lily’s ear, fiddling with her quill. Alice had a habit of picking the feathers out of her quills, especially when she was anxious or irritated by something.

‘Enough of that, I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get so distracted in the first place. Now, back to the lesson!’ McGonagall said loudly, nipping any brewing conversations in the bud. She was not too keen on being the reason her fifth years broke out into a series of debates.

The atmosphere in the class was tense for the rest of the lesson. Sirius could feel a small bubble of anger forming in his stomach. Anger at what his family valued, anger at the fact he was included in the wretched Sacred Twenty-Eight, anger that the name he carried held so much pain and suffering.

‘You alright, Pads?’ James asked, glancing at the fist that Sirius’s hand had unknowingly formed. Sirius unwound his hand, relaxing it to reveal nail marks embedded into his palm.

‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ he replied, coughing to clear his throat, and grabbing a quill, starting the business of scratching down the notes McGonagall had written on the blackboard for them. James looked at Sirius, uncertainly and unconvinced.

‘You know there are good folk on that list,’ James tried to comfort his friend. ‘The Prewett’s, Abbott’s, the Weasley’s. They’re all on it.’

‘Yeah. But mine aren’t like them, are they?’ Sirius responded glumly, looking over his shoulder to see Gideon and Fabian Prewett, their red hair making them stand out a mile.

‘ _You_ are. You’re not like your parents,’ James said gently. Sirius gave James a half-hearted smile and continued writing, shutting down the conversation.

‘Hey, guys, can you crack your knuckles?’ Peter interjected enthusiastically, displaying his complete inability of reading a room. Sirius frowned in dismay and he and James turned round to look at Peter and Remus who were sat behind them.

‘No, why?’ James asked casually, regretting his choice to do so the second the words escaped his mouth. Peter had a tendency to spout random trivia whenever anyone would listen.

‘Apparently, girls find guys who can crack their knuckles extremely attractive,’ Peter explained while attempting to crack the bones his fingers were comprised of.

‘Ah, yes, that well known aphrodisiac. The sound of grinding bones,’ Remus drawled sarcastically. Peter stopped trying to break his hands and frowned with the innocence of a puppy while Sirius and James cracked up.

‘Just go and ruin my fun then, Moony, why don’t you,’ Peter moped. Remus, in response, sighed loudly and Peter’s complaint and got back to work.

‘Wormtail, just give it up,’ James laughed at his friends pathetic attempts to berate Remus for his lack of faith in knuckle cracking.

By the time the Gryffindor’s were dismissed from classes for the day, Peter had well and truly given up on trying to convince some of the Gryffindor boys that bone-cracking was attractive. James, however, had decided to humour Peter in his antics and joined in with the attempts of cracking his knuckles, which he soon found out, was near impossible for him to do. Lily, having heard enough about bone cracking for one day, took it upon herself to break the myth of attractiveness and she cracked each and every one of her fingers – something James had been trying to do now for over an hour. Her performance gained a plethora of hollers from the boys, including a cheeky comment from Sirius who asked whether Alice would snog Lily due to the redheads intense seduction skills. That gained him a solid slap upside the head.

‘Why are you friends with him?’ Marlene asked Remus jokily about James, to which Remus reacted to with a frown and a sigh.

‘Marls, I have no idea. Why are you?’ he breathed with a laugh, looking down at the blonde as they travelled to the Great Hall for dinner.

‘Family obligation. It’s inescapable,’ Marlene said with mock despair, Remus chuckling at her helplessness.

James felt a pair of eyes on him as he sat eating his roast dinner, complete with a Yorkshire pudding. He turned around to see Snape’s dark, glaring eyes quickly move off him. James watched as Snape leaned in to say something to Regulus Black, which made James narrow his eyes as he turned back round to his friends.

‘Pads, your brother and Snivellus are plotting something,’ James grumbled into Sirius’s ear. Sirius turned his head round to view Regulus, Snape and a few other Slytherin’s conversing.

‘Rosier appears to be at the centre of it,’ Sirius reported as he spun his head back round to the Gryffindor table. ‘I don’t like this.’

‘I don’t like Snivellus’s greasy eyes on me, that needs to be put to a stop,’ James shuddered dramatically from the interaction. They spied on the Slytherin’s as they started filing out of the Great Hall, avoiding any further eye contact.

‘Let’s get out of here, I need to go to the dorm and get my Herbology textbook anyway,’ Remus offered, being the voice of reason and peace. The four of them headed out of the Great Hall and began making the long journey up to the Gryffindor Tower.

Out of nowhere, James felt a pair of hands wrap around his arm from behind a corner and throw him, along with the others, into a deserted hallway. Once he got out of the grasp of whoever was holding him, he whipped round to come face to face with Avery, a rather unpleasant, yet handsome seventh year Slytherin, along with a few others that included Snape and Regulus.

‘We’ve got an issue, Potter,’ Avery spoke calmly, an air of smugness about him. James glanced along Avery’s arm apprehensively to see that, despite his cool demeanour, his hand was gripping his wand rather tensely.

‘And what’s that then?’ James asked, replacing the startled look that he had at first with one of boredom. Avery’s black, hollow eyes stared back at him emotionlessly.

‘I don’t appreciate the slanderous behaviour you treat my housemate with. Didn’t your mother ever teach you any manners?’ Avery said condescendingly. He was a tall boy, with raven black hair, and had been in the running for Head Boy, pushed out by the Ravenclaw, Archie Jaguar.

James threw a glare in Snape’s direction, who was conducting himself very bravely in the centre of the little cult that surrounded him. Snape threw daggers back at James, making Sirius snigger at the sudden boost of confidence Snape seemed to have acquired.

‘Sounds to me like Snivellus is being a little bitch, as usual, we ain’t done shit to him,’ James bit back.

‘And what, poor little Snivellus isn’t man enough to fight his own battles?’ Sirius jumped it, causing Avery’s eyes to grow darker and murkier, his anger filling the corridor.

‘Don’t test us, Black, it won’t end well,’ Avery threatened coolly. James raised an eyebrow.

‘We don’t answer well to empty threats, Avery,’ James said softly, like a python ready to attack. He pulled his own wand out of his pocket, Avery’s eyes flashing at his actions.

‘Rosier is my second. Which of that blood traitor scum is yours?’ Avery spat venomously, his stance offensive.

‘I am,’ Sirius said instantaneously, his usually cloudy grey eyes now a dark, tormented storm. Avery scoffed at Sirius’s words.

‘You’re a disgrace to your name, Black, to purebloods everywhere,’ Avery brawled, raising his wand in preparation.

‘Just as well I don’t stand for what you do, then,’ Sirius hissed. His gaze flicked to his brother, who’s expression was stone cold, unmoving.

‘You would know about being a disgrace to a name, wouldn’t you Avery?’ James growled, jeering at the furious seventh year.

‘Fucking hypocrite,’ Avery snarled back lowly. James had heard enough.

‘ _Flipendo!’_ James yelled without warning, sending Avery flying back across the corridor until he landed with a crunch, groaning. The rest of the Slytherin’s instantly raised their wands as a result, prepared to defend.

Avery picked himself up and started charging towards James, firing spells straight for the messy haired boy. James retaliated blocking many of hexes and jinxes, shooting offensive spells of his own. He was soon defaced with multiple scars, his lip punctured from one of Avery’s more severe attacks. Avery was also soon adorned with a black eye and blood running from his cheek. The duel wasn’t just. The wanted to harm each other as much as possible.

Coloured lights and sparks filled the corridor. It wasn’t long before Sirius was roped into the duel as Rosier grew bored at the side-lines and decided to volley a few attacks of his own. James grit his teeth together as he fought to corner Avery into a wall to give himself the biggest advantage he possibly could in the duel, but it was incredibly difficult. Avery, as a seventh year, had much more practice and skill in duelling which made him a strikingly tough match for James.

Sirius had an easier message to get past, as Rosier was in fifth year also, so their levels were far more on par with each other. Sirius felt himself get lost in the duel and was positively winning, firing shots with all his might as Rosier grew visibly more and more tired.

‘Put your fucking wand down, Black, or your little brother won’t leave the same way he came,’ the voice of Ibex Nott boomed in Sirius ear, distracting him from Rosier to see the seventh year holding Regulus in a headlock, wand pressed into his temple. Sirius took in the scene and instantly dropped his wand, locking eyes with the grey of his brother’s. In the background, he could still hear James and Avery duelling, but it was muffled as he stared at the position his little brother was being held in. Where Nott’s robe sleeve had lifted slightly, Sirius could see something black on the skin of Nott’s forearm.

‘LOWER THOSE WANDS THIS INSTANCE!’ a deep, thundering voice bellowed down the corridor as a clear blue, protective charm separated the two duelling parties. James felt as though his heart stopped when Albus Dumbledore walked into sight, his electric blue eyes frazzled with fury, his forehead embellished with deep-seated lines.

Avery and James glowered at each other with rage, their savagery still very much present. Sirius wiped the blood from his forehead and picked up his wand to back away once he’d seen Nott drop Regulus from his grip. Dumbledore’s eyes scanned the corridor, his eyes jumping between the groups of boys, taking in the chaos.

‘Two hundred points from _both_ Slytherin and Gryffindor will be taken away,’ Dumbledore spoke calmly, but his stare betrayed his anger. ‘How dare such behaviour take place in this school, how dare you exhibit such immaturity. I do not care in the slightest who started it and why, but I _never_ want to witness such hellfire again. Do I make myself clear?’

Dumbledore offered them a true display of threat and punishment. James had never heard the Headmaster so outraged in his life, and it caused him to cower it his presence. All the boys recoiled in one way or another but continued to throw glares in each other’s direction. They replied to Dumbledore with a cluster of hums and other noises of agreement to let him know they understood what he meant. Dumbledore adjusted the sleeves of his robes before continuing.

‘Now, those of you who are injured, please make your way to the Hospital Wing at once,’ Dumbledore grumbled. ‘The rest of you, go back to your Common Rooms this instance. You will be sent your punishments by owl by the end of the day, and I do not want to hear about any one of you putting even a hair out of line.’

Heads hung low to avoid the gaze of the Headmaster, the boys started filing out the corridor, a few headed in the direction of the Hospital Wing to cure some rouge hits, exchanging glares between each other.

‘Not so fast, Mr Potter, Mr Black,’ Dumbledore called out to the two Gryffindor boys, looking at them over his half-moon spectacles. ‘Follow me,’ he said emotionlessly and turned on his heel, robes billowing behind him as he walked down the now deserted corridor.

James and Sirius exchanged a look of confusion and followed the Headmaster in silence, a thick tension falling between the three of them. This wasn’t the boys’ first time heading to Dumbledore’s office. Never once did they fear that it might be their last, but this time, they did.

‘Fizzing Whizbee,’ Dumbledore’s mystical voice chanted as they reached the giant, golden gargoyle that sprung to life and to the side in response to the password. The inventive, sweet themed passwords never failed to amuse the two boys that tagged along behind the long-bearded man.

Dumbledore sat down behind his desk in his tall backed chair, eyes trained upon the two teenager that stood behind his grand desk. Both Sirius and James were avoiding his eye contact. Dumbledore had a great, undeniable talent in guilt-tripping people, and it did a wonderful job in keeping the students of Hogwarts in check.

‘So, care to help me understand what happened?’ Dumbledore questioned, pushing his glasses a little further up his nose with his long, willowy fingers. James glanced up in surprise.

‘We got cornered,’ James muttered, scratching the back of his neck. Dumbledore raised a wiry brow.

‘I gathered as much,’ Dumbledore smirked, eyes twinkling with mischief. It was one of the things he respected about the boys, they weren’t snitches. Dumbledore had to prevent himself from chuckling as the boys sneaked a glance at each other.

‘Sir?’ Sirius asked for elaboration.

‘I will not go further into my views on the matter, Mr Black, but there is no doubt in my mind that you were the two fighting the right corner,’ Dumbledore replied, picking up his golden quill and elegantly writing a not. ‘We can scratch both yours, Mr Lupin’s, and Mr Pettigrew’s detentions. But I must stress, if I ever catch you duelling, unauthorised, on school grounds again, there will have to be consequences,’ Dumbledore forewarned, gaining enthusiastic nods from both dark haired boys.

‘Absolutely sir, you have our word,’ James promise eagerly, clasping his hands together behind his back. Dumbledore smiled.

‘Anyway, despite your immature behaviour, you displayed some incredible duelling skills for fifth years, I must admit. I was very impressed,’ Dumbledore congratulated them as his majestic phoenix, Fawkes, flew down to perch on the armrest of his chair. Sirius and James grinned.

‘Thank you, Professor,’ Sirius said bashfully. Dumbledore gave him a small nod, stroking Fawkes’s feathers.

‘You are very welcome. Now, you’re dismissed, get back to Gryffindor Tower, and try to stay out of trouble along the way,’ Dumbledore waved them off with his hand. James and Sirius left the office, slightly dumbfounded at what had occurred.

‘Reckon he’s getting soft?’ James queried as they stepped past the gargoyle and set off for their dormitory, the setting sun streaming through the windows of the castle they passed them.

‘Maybe. But I’m not complaining,’ Sirius snickered in response, shoving his wand into the pocket of his robes. He couldn’t deny it. They were incredibly lucky to still be on the good side of the Headmaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will no longer have to deal with bad WiFi after this chapter because I'm going back home!! :) Honestly, I have the fear of not being able to upload now ahaha  
> I hope you guys enjoy the chapter, I find it a little mad that I now have a kind of following for this story, and I love each and every one of you, you're all bloody amazing for giving me a chance :) I hope you enjoyed the little Sirius and Regulus moment, I don't feel like I see enough of that brotherly protectiveness :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	26. The Resistance

James had decided that it was about time to loosen Remus and Peter up a bit about exams, after all, they were still a little over a month away, and frankly, he though all this frantic, unnerving, and premature cramming was immature. It’s why he took it upon himself to take the one-eyed witch passage to Hogsmeade and pick up some drink from Heron at the Quill Tavern as well as a few treats from the Honeydukes cellar. James didn’t exactly feel comfortable about taking stuff from the cellar without paying, so he always left a few coins in an obvious place where the owners would find them. He also left a little extra as tip, just for the trouble, as he couldn’t pay up front.

With his bag of hidden supplies in one hand and the Marauder’s Map in the other, James had opted not to take the invisibility cloak with him, as he felt with his lack of free hands, he would somehow end up tripping over the cloak trailing in front of his and end up causing a bigger commotion with the cloak than without it. He decided the Map was the safest option, though even James had the tendency to forget to look at it every once in a while to keep updated on who he might run into.

He had managed to make it to the sixth floor undetected, with one more floor to go until he reached the safety of Gryffindor Tower. He packed the map away early, as moving from the sixth to seventh floor on a Sunday was usually a very deserted affair. James peered into the bag just to make sure once more that he had picked up everything he meant to.

‘Jamie?’ a low voice sounded from further along the corridor. James almost dropped the bag as he looked up to see the tall silhouette of Marcus McKinnon, Marlene’s father, and a dear friend to the Potter’s. He strutted down the corridor in his Muggle suit. James was pretty sure he had never seen Marcus McKinnon in robes. Marcus narrowed his eyes playfully, amusement sparkling in his eyes as he caught James red handed.

He looked exhausted, yet still relatively young for his age with not a single grey hair in sight amongst the brunette mane of hair atop his head. Alice had always unashamedly joked that she’d happily marry Marcus McKinnon if he’d ever be up for it, a fact which many girls struggled to disagree with, as he was undeniably attractive. Marlene always laughed that he had to have something going for him to have scored a half-Veela like Madison, who was also beautiful. The two sets of genes had done very well to produce Marlene’s own very good looks. According to rumours and stories, Marcus had been a regular heartbreaker back in the day until he met Madison, a story which neither of the McKinnon parents liked to deny or confirm to those who asked. They enjoyed the aura of mystery, and to this day, Marcus still turned the heads of many women as he walked down the corridors of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry.

‘Hey, Marcus! What are you doing here?’ James, asked, trying to play off the fact he had almost dropped the bag of goods he was attempting to deliver to the three boys he shared a dorm with. Marcus smirked.

‘You doing well to stay out of trouble, then?’ Marcus teased, ruffling James’s hair as he looked down to see the bag the fifth year was holding.

‘Yep, not had a single detention this year,’ James replied in jest, making Marcus scoff.

‘Bullshit,’ Marcus laughed. ‘What have you got in the bag there, Jamie?’

‘I think I’d rather avoid the question,’ James said awkwardly, which only made Marcus smirk more.

‘Honeydukes cellar?’ Marcus asked, enjoying the way James’s eyes widened in surprise at Marcus’s guess. He didn’t think that someone so immediate to him would’ve also known about the Hogwarts secret passageways.

‘How did you know?’ James grinned shifting the bag from one hand to the other.

‘We were also quite adventurous back in our day. Just don’t tell others that you found it, or they’ll want you to be their personal shopping assistant. If you do tell, make sure you charge a decent amount for your services, it’s much more fun that way,’ Marcus winked.

‘So what are you doing here?’ James asked again. It wasn’t every day you bumped into a parent wandering around the Hogwarts castle. It was entirely peculiar, actually.

‘Dumbledore called me in to discuss something, I’m just heading there the now. You keep safe, kid,’ Marcus winked again, clicking his tongue, and bid James goodbye before heading in the direction of Dumbledore’s office.

James frowned slightly at the abrupt farewell but shrugged it off and continued his way to his final destination, glad that the only person he ended up running into was Marcus McKinnon with his bag of contraband. He could have encountered someone much worse instead who would have confiscated it entirely.

Marcus shoved his hands in his suit trouser pockets as he marched towards the golden gargoyle that concealed Dumbledore’s office. He muttered the password and stepped in to be greeted with several faces, ranging from friends to acquaintances.

He scanned the room to see the people scattered all over the room. Albus Dumbledore was sat, as usual behind his desk, looking solemn. Minerva McGonagall was stood next to him, arms folded, her lips pursed in their typical way, eyes stern. Dedalus Diggle was leaned against a glass cabinet, looking innocent as usual as he peered around the room, resembling a meerkat in his manner, and Elphias Dodge, along with Edgar Bones, were sat along a bench near the back of the room. Aberforth Dumbledore was looking glum in a corner and Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody was tapping his stick impatiently along the ground. The only one who looked even slightly happy was Rubeus Hagrid, who could be heard lightly humming to himself.

‘Ah, McKinnon, you’ve finally arrived,’ Mad-Eye grunted as his eyes fell upon Marcus, causing him to straighten. Mad-Eye didn’t appreciate when people were late for important meetings and Marcus had a tendency of being so. Either way, Mad-Eye couldn’t complain much. Marcus was the best Auror he had under his department. Mad-Eye was Head Auror for the Ministry of Magic.

‘I got here as fast as I could, apologies, Albus,’ Marcus replied, fighting the urge to roll his eyes at Mad-Eye’s passive aggressive comment.

‘For someone who’s on the school grounds so often, it sure took you a while,’ Mad-Eye added smarmily. This time Marcus did roll his eyes.

‘You gave permission for the set-up, so sit your arse down and shut up,’ Marcus snapped as his Scottish accent growing stronger along with his irritation, bored of the repetitive conversation.

‘Gentlemen, this is not the time or the place to start brawling,’ Dumbledore’s soft voice interrupted the increasing argument.

‘Why are we here, Albus?’ Dodge asked peevishly, checking the gold wristwatch on his arm.

‘I thank you all for coming here on such short notice, I understand you have other commitments and meetings to attend to,’ Dumbledore grumbled as he stood up to address them all. ‘Especially since I have been very vague as to why I have requested you to come here, but I didn’t want to risk the owls being intercepted.’

‘Why would the letters have been intercepted?’ Diggle questioned.

‘Part of the reason why you’re all here,’ Mad-Eye chimed in, Dumbledore biting his tongue of the disturbance.

‘Yes, thank you, Mad-Eye,’ Dumbledore cleared his throat. ‘I’m sure I do not need to inform you of all the unfortunate Muggle murders that have been going on as of late, and the fact that they seem to be seeping into the magical population with Muggle-borns being killed.’

There were hums of agreements following Dumbledore’s words, shifty glances being exchanged. Despite the _Daily Prophet’s_ publications, everyone in the office felt that the doings of dark witches and wizards amidst their population were not being taken care of well by the Ministry of Magic. Quite honestly, they seemed to be turning a bit of a blind eye, giving much disappointment to the relatively new Minister, Harold Minchum.

‘What’s that got to do with letters being intercepted?’ Diggle pushed further, causing McGonagall to huff at the constant interruptions.

‘Oh, shut up will you, Dedalus,’ McGonagall lost her temper, Marcus attempting to mask a chuckle with a cough at her irritation as Diggle’s eyes widened with shock.

‘It’s alright, Minerva. We’ll get onto that, Dedalus, I’ll explain,’ Dumbledore said graciously. ‘It has come to the attention of Mad-Eye and myself that we may actually know far more about the leader of this group than we first thought.’

‘Leader? You mean there’s a whole collaboration of these folk?’ Marcus asked, knitting his brows together.

‘Yes, and we have reason to believe that they are gaining momentum and followers as we speak. We are not exactly sure yet of what their plans are, but from what we have gathered by the information we have, they seem to be pureblood supremacists.’

‘Are we surprised?’ Hagrid muttered to himself.

‘Who is it, the leader? Who do you have information on?’ Bones questioned, looking very concerned at Dumbledore’s words. Dumbledore, whether it be to keep them in suspense or because he simply didn’t want to say the name, seemed to be keeping them in suspense.

‘Tom Riddle,’ the two names finally left Dumbledore’s mouth. A tense silence filled the room, a silence that was very uncommon in any situation.

‘Riddle? Wasn’t he Head Boy here, at Hogwarts, back in the day?’ Dodge asked, surprised at the name that escaped. It seemed almost strange to him that a Hogwarts student was capable of that much.

‘He was, when Dippet was Headmaster,’ McGonagall confirmed. ‘He had outstanding grades, even received the medal for Magical Merit in his time. He was a very promising student.’

‘And as we are now coming to witness, a very powerful one,’ Dumbledore continued gravely. ‘We do not know how many followers, partners, whatever he may have there are. But he is strong, we know that, and he is getting stronger by the day. Tom is targeting Muggles and Muggle-borns especially, but he appears to be sending the orders rather than performing the murders.’

‘I always thought he was a bit shifty. Him and that group that used to hang around him and glorify him. He probably got quite a taste for power and hasn’t lost it since,’ McGonagall sneered, remembering when she used to watch the schoolboy walked around the halls with his posse.

‘Let us not dwell on what he did as a child, Minerva. What matters now is the terrible, terrible acts he is doing, what has come of a child like him,’ Dumbledore said, preventing McGonagall from continuing to badmouth the man.

‘So, what have you called us here for? Surely we’ve not just come to listen to you tell us about some boy who’s turned down the wrong path and is now committing unspeakable acts,’ Bones asked, clearly becoming a bit temperamental from listening a story about some schoolboy.

‘We were thinking of building a resistance,’ Mad-Eye grunted from his corner, those visiting showing looks of perplexity to the revelation.

‘A resistance? Against some poncey little man who discovered that he quite liked some attention when he was at school. So what if he has a bit of a following, it’ll probably die out as quickly as it arose,’ Diggle argued, scoffing at the preposterous idea of setting up a resistance.

‘Exactly, who’s to say that this Tom Riddle fella will go any further than this. It’s devastating what he’s doing, of course, but as soon as he realises that his little temper tantrum isn’t getting the attention he thought it would, he’s bound to stop,’ Dodge agreed, crossing his arms over his chest.

‘But he _is_ getting attention, don’t you see?’ McGonagall insisted.

‘And from what we also know, he’s getting the support of some of the most ancient wizarding families there are. That’s some of the strongest backing you can get,’ Mad-Eye growled.

‘Tom was never one to stop. Whatever he wanted, he always went for it and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to get it. This is one of those situations. The Ministry isn’t acting, and someone needs to. We need to put a stop to those innocent lives being taken,’ Dumbledore emphasised.

‘Say, hypothetically, we do form a resistance. If this Tom Riddle bloke really does have a large following, there’s no way in hell that only us lot, here, would be any sort of match for him,’ Marcus pointed out, taking everyone in. They really were quite the untimely bunch.

‘Of course, I have a few others in mind who I would’ve liked to have in this room but couldn’t make it. I’ll inform them some other time. But I do have some others in mind, people who I know would be more willing to fight than anyone else,’ Dumbledore said, Marcus now realising he was slightly avoiding eye contact with him, which made Marcus frown deeply.

The room remained silent for a few minutes, Dumbledore clearly hesitating in giving his listeners the next piece of information. It appeared he was dreading to bite the bullet and exposed his thoughts, which only made Marcus’s heartbeat jump to his throat.

‘Albus wants to recruit students,’ Mad-Eye interjected, breaking the silence.

‘In particular, your daughter and her group of friends,’ McGonagall uttered, clearly uncomfortable with the idea herself. She laced her hands together as though bracing herself for the outrage that was about to escape Auror McKinnon.

‘Please tell me you’re bullshitting me right now,’ Marcus let out a breathy laugh of disbelief, but his face fell as he took in Dumbledore’s sombre expression. ‘You’re serious?’ he glowered.

‘Yes.’

‘You’re wanting to recruit _my_ underage daughter and her friends to go into battle on the front line against psychotic purebloods? To sacrifice their own lives for those who would sit back and do nothing, let them do all the work!’ Marcus bellowed in rage, his nose flaring at the idea presented before him.

‘I told you he wouldn’t go for it Albus,’ McGonagall said softly.

‘You’re damn right I won’t! What you’re proposing is insane, no parent would allow their child to be put in harm’s way like this! You’ve had some barmy ideas, Albus, but this is by far one of the worst. Recruit me all you like, I’ll join, I’ll lay my life on the line to protect others, I’m already being paid to do it as it is. But don’t you dare go about brainwashing my daughter, James or and of their friends into weapons, _that_ I will not allow!’ Marcus disputed furiously, so much that anyone normal wouldn’t dare argue with the current red-faced man.

‘Marcus, I understand your worry –’

‘Oh, no you don’t, Albus! You’ve never been a parent, and when you were given the responsibility of a guardian, you murdered your own sister!’ Marcus spat out impulsively, a cruel atmosphere filling the room. Albus exchanged a glance Aberforth, sending a silent message to not react. Marcus McKinnon was known for being brash.

‘They are the generation who will know what is worth fighting for. They’re the ones who want to fight for their future, to live in a world where one doesn’t have to be looking over their shoulder all the time. They know the importance of preventing the world from descending into chaos and prejudice. The young generation have more power and fight in them than all of us put together,’ Albus said gravely, and tone of finality in his words. Marcus refused to look at Dumbledore, in fear of saying anything else he knew he was bound to regret.

‘You’ve been rather quiet this whole meeting, Aberforth,’ Mad-Eye stated, making the youngest Dumbledore child suddenly appear much more visible in his corner.

‘I do not believe it is my place to say anything at this moment in time,’ Aberforth strained, avoiding meeting his eyes with anyone.

‘It is no use discussing a child’s role in this at all until they have finished school. They have their education to attend to which should have always been their first priority, none of this rubbish about fighting on the front line. I suggest we wrap this meeting up before any more sparks fly,’ McGonagall said sternly.

‘Do you really want to start a resistance, Albus?’ Bones overlooked McGonagall’s words and pushed for an answer. ‘Is Riddle really such a threat to our world?’

Dumbledore nodded unwillingly. ‘Yes. Perhaps our world will be thrown into peril like never seen before at the hands of Tom Riddle. And we must be ready for it.’

‘You have our support, Albus, when you need it,’ Diggle spoke, changing his tune. ‘If this Riddle truly is as dangerous as you say he is, we want to be on the right side of the fight, no matter the cost.’

‘Aberforth?’ Mad-Eye asked. Aberforth glared slightly, wishing the Auror would get off his case.

‘I think … that Ariana would have wanted us to fight. Or die trying,’ Aberforth stated singly.

‘You can’t expect us to sit around and do nothing while the world we know falls to pieces at the hands of chauvinists,’ Marcus followed on from what Aberforth said.

‘You tell us how you want to play this, Albus. We’ll follow through,’ Mad-Eye confirmed, Dumbledore’s pale blue eyes twinkling at the response of those in front of him.

‘Very well then. I will make sure to keep in contact with you all about future meetings. Thank you all for coming today,’ Dumbledore nodded in respect, and the gathered variety began filing out of the office, until there was only Dumbledore and McGonagall left.

Dumbledore made his stride towards his balcony, which overlooked both the Black Lake and part of the Forbidden Forest. He felt McGonagall creep up behind him, a comforting hand placed on his shoulder.

‘Do you really think there’s going to be a war, Albus?’ she asked. Dumbledore could hear her voice shaking.

He didn’t want to respond. He stood there, staring out into the panoramic view, his second in command as his rock. He didn’t want to think of there being more chaos in the wizarding world. He’d had enough of it to last a lifetime.

‘Perhaps, their deaths will have meaning, only if we stand together.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello *in Russian accent, don't ask why :)*  
> I'm back home, and I'm actually so proud of myself, I'm so far ahead of my upload schedule, I'm no longer panicked about getting a chapter up woo :) I feel like this chapter is kind of boring, but really important to the story, so I still hope you all enjoyed, and we'll be back to the teenagers in no time!! Also, I kind of just have the ultimate crush on Marcus McKinnon in my head, I am fully with Alice on that ahaha :)  
> I hope you're all still enjoying the chapters, and keep the comments rolling because they're honestly such a source of motivation for me, I love them!!   
> Love, Julia xx


	27. Tumbling Stone

‘Cas, your cat is a menace,’ Marlene sighed as she picked up one of her now completely chewed up heels which she had stashed under her bed and held it up. Dorcas stroked a tuft of hair that completed the cats fur on its head.

‘Sorry, Marls, she means well. I promise I’ll buy you a new pair,’ Dorcas apologised as she placed the cat on her pillow where it curled up and purred soundly.

‘Nah, it’s fine, just keep her _away_ from my side. She seems to like my stuff the best,’ Marlene chuckled, finding the other heel, and throwing the pair in the bin. ‘I didn’t really like those heels anyway.’

‘I think it’s your perfume that she likes. Or there might just be something about you that attracts cats,’ Dorcas laughed as she tossed her hair up into a ponytail.

‘That’s funny. I always took you as more of a dog person,’ Alice chipped in, looking up from the lengthy essay she was writing for Herbology.

‘I do miss my dog,’ Marlene admitted, sticking out her bottom lip slightly. The McKinnon’s always had a dog running around the house ever since the family existed, but ever since Marlene was born, the two dogs that had been around in her lifetime seemed to favour her over any of the other family members. Marlene had ended up being comically vocal about how the dog was her favourite and least annoying member of the family.

‘That toerag of a boy!’ Lily suddenly stormed into the dorm, slamming the door shut as she made her way to her bed and collapsed on it. Her frustration filled the room as the other girls rolled their eyes, smirking at each other from the scene in front of them.

‘What did James Potter do this time?’ Alice asked humorously as Lily took off her school robes, leaving her in her grey skirt and white shirt, face down on the bed. She groaned at Alice’s words before flipping onto her back and sitting up, making the bed bounce as she did so.

‘He is the most infuriating, blithering idiot I have ever met!’ Lily ranted, pouting as her hair stuck up in all directions. Alice and Marlene glanced at each other, trying very hard to not laugh at the redhead.

‘Surely he can’t have done anything that bad? What could he have done, hooked up with a girl and then started flirting with you straight after?’ Dorcas teased as she walked over to Lily to place a comforting arm over her but couldn’t quite wipe the amused smile off her face.

‘Oh, don’t even get me started, he’s done that already!’ Lily complained, folding her arms over her chest. ‘He hexed some third year out of nowhere because they were annoying him in one of the corridors. I saw what was happening and went to tell him off for it, but then he just continued being his insufferable self and I was about ready to hit him with a brick!’

Lily huffed and leaned into Dorcas’s hug as Marlene and Alice demonstrated what Lily hitting James with a brick would look like. She felt her anger start to dissolve as he friends attempted to make her laugh when a grey owl swooped into the room, dropping a note into Lily’s lap. The owl then flew over to where Marlene’s snowy white was perched and chomped down an owl nut that filled the silver owl bowl.

‘Gilly?’ Marlene queried aloud, sitting up to stroke the owls feathers.

‘Who’s owl is that?’ Alice asked, sitting up to get a better view of the commotion. Marlene looked over at the letter that Lily was holding with her hand.

‘It’s James’. What did he send you?’ Marlene asked curiously as she felt Gilly nip at her knuckle affectionately. James and Marlene were pretty sure that Gilly and her owl were in love, seeing as they always found them together in the Owlery.

‘Ugh, why can’t he just leave me alone?’ Lily moaned as she opened the letter. Inside it lay a sugar quill and, in messy handwriting, a note that read; _I’m sorry, but you have to admit it was funny!_

‘That’s a deluxe sugar quill as well,’ Dorcas winked with a grin. Lily returned her cheek with a glare.

‘Arrogant twat,’ Lily insulted James yet again, but stood but stood up to put the sugar quill in her stock of sweets that she kept in one of her bedside table drawers. She then looked over to Gilly, who appeared to be very drowsy as it cosied up next to Marlene’s owl. ‘His owl’s nice though.’

Alice gasped dramatically. ‘Lily Evans! I think we just witnessed the first ever case of Lily fucking Evans complimenting James Potter!’ she said mockingly, giggling at the furious look the redhead sent her as a consequence.

‘His parents definitely bought him that owl. If anything, I’m complimenting his parents taste in pets, not Potter’s,’ Lily replied cleverly.

‘Touché. It was his tenth birthday present. I’ve never seen James so excited with a gift ever since,’ Marlene reminisced a young James Potter’s birthday. It had certainly been one to remember, as he almost got scalded with the fireworks that shot out of the cake because he was so excited to eat it. He had also spent the whole day bullying Marlene with the fact that he was older than her. He did so every birthday, and it became a point of pride with James, so he liked to keep rubbing salt in the wound about it as much as possible.

‘I’m surprised its survived six years,’ Lily muttered as Gilly ruffled his feathers to make them lay more comfortably.

‘I think it’s just you James thrives on annoying, Lils, I don’t think he attempts to torture his own owl,’ Alice laughed as she started to pack away her schoolbooks and frowned as a piece of her long hair dangled in front of her eyes. She had been feeling the temptation to cut her hair short for a while, even more so since Maura Finnigan had accidentally set it on fire in the Great Hall.

‘Besides, he only annoys you so much because he gets your attention and a great reaction out of it,’ Marlene said, reclining back on her bed in order to relax from the stressful day of schoolwork they’d endured.

‘But he drives me insane,’ Lily groaned, elongated the vowels in the last word of her complaint.

‘You’re like an old, married couple,’ Dorcas joked, only to be met with a scoff from Lily.

‘Right, I’m going to pee,’ Lily announced to change the subject, grabbing her washbag and pyjamas.

‘Thanks for letting us know,’ Marlene said emotionlessly as she flicked through _Witch Weekly_. Lily frowned as she took in her friends choice of entertainment.

‘I can’t believe you actually read that crap,’ she laughed and dodged the pillow that Marlene threw at her without looking as she continued reading.

‘Excuses me, Lils, we read it to keep up with _Spellbound,_ one of the best all-witch bands of all time, and it’s the best place to catch up on how their American tour is going,’ Alice defended her blonde friend as she moved to join Marlene in scanning the articles in the glossy magazine.

‘And you, Miss Prefect Evans, need to stop being so judgemental of people,’ Marlene grinned, emphasising the way she turned a magazine page to spite Lily.

‘Yeah, yeah, keep filling your mind with shit, I’m sure it appreciates it,’ Lily teased, locking the bathroom door to prevent the girls from attacking her with another range of comments about how wonderful _Witch Weekly_ was. She turned on some music that came out of the little radio they’d placed in the bathroom to entertain themselves while they were in there and switched on the shower.

‘Well, I better head off for patrols,’ Dorcas sighed, pulling an oversized, blue knitted jumper over her head to protect herself from the chills of the castle. She pinned her Prefect badge on the breast of it to ensure she wouldn’t end up being thrown into detention by Filch for being out of bed.

‘It is evil that they make you do Prefect duties this late,’ Marlene said firmly. ‘You should go on strike.’

‘I’m not going to lie, I thought there’d be more privileges when you’re a Prefect, it’s why I was happy to get it in the first place,’ Alice mused.

‘Turns out the only real upside is that we get to use the fancy Prefects bathroom,’ Dorcas rolled her eyes, but smiled as she did so. The Prefects bathroom on the fifth floor truly was a work of art.

‘Which I use all the time anyway! I have taken some heavenly baths there,’ Marlene laughed, making Dorcas scoff as she tied her shoelaces.

‘That’s ‘cause you have three friends who are good enough to you to give you the password,’ she taunted and headed to the door to leave. Marlene blew her a kiss.

‘And for that, I am forever grateful!’ she called out just as Dorcas shut the door to determine her departure, laughing to herself.

Dorcas, if she was honest with herself as she stepped out the portrait hole that the Fat Lady covered, couldn’t be bothered going about her usual Prefect duties tonight. She knew there was a very small chance of her getting caught not doing the patrol, as there was rarely someone you’d bump into across Hogwarts at this hour. So she changed the direction she was supposed to be heading in and walked towards the Ancient Runes classroom where she knew a certain someone spent every Tuesday night, working late with the permission of McGonagall.

She pulled the sleeves of her jumper over her hands to warm them up as she briskly marched down one of the moving Hogwarts staircases. She thanked Merlin that it worked in her favour and she didn’t have to endure one of its fanciful manoeuvres which would end up making her take the much longer journey to the classroom. She wanted to get there as quickly as possible.

Dorcas reached the heavy wooden door that opened the entrance to the classroom. It was dark and took a while for her eyes to adjust. Her nose twitched at the mixed smell of smoke and fresh air that was coming from one of the windows and the opposite end of the door. She frowned. Remus Lupin didn’t smoke often, and when he did, it was because he was trying to stay calm about something.

Closing the door as quietly as possible, she creeped across the room on her toes, finally able to see Remus’s silhouette. He was sat on the ledge with his legs hanging out the open window, lighting a cigarette. She glanced down to see three cigarette butts crumpled beside him, making her gasp a little.

‘Want one?’ Remus’s sudden voiced acknowledgement of her existence in the room made her jump. He hadn’t turned around to look at her and simply raised the fag packet in her direction. She frowned a little at the offer.

‘No thanks. Marls would’ve taken one, though,’ Dorcas refused awkwardly, lacing her fingers together as she attempted to lighten the mood. Remus’s shoulders bounced as he shrugged at her response and shoved the packet back in his pocket, letting out a long breath of smoke.

The two hadn’t spoken recently, for no particular reason. Perhaps it was because Dorcas didn’t want to bother him as of late because of how tired he looked, or the fact that she’d found out that Remus, along with the other boys, had known about Alice before she did, and she was holding some sort of unknown grudge towards him. Either way she had decided she’d missed him, as a friend.

Remus didn’t blame her for holding out on him. He had been avoiding her a little as well, he couldn’t deny it.

‘Marls is some girl,’ Remus finally replied, coolly. Dorcas felt her muscles tense as Remus scooted himself closer to the edge of the window, his legs dangling lower down the castle wall. She felt the urge to grab his school shirt covered arm and pull him back onto his feet away from the window, into safety. He seemed distant, cold. He wasn’t the warm, sweet, clever Remus Lupin that everyone loved.

‘Yeah,’ Dorcas grimaced, shifting from one foot to the other. Her brain felt like it had frozen over, incapable of coming up with more words to say. She started to regret coming to find him, to force a conversation.

‘Sit down,’ Remus offered, moving over, and patting the spot next to him as the cigarette dangled from his other one.

Dorcas let out a silent sigh of relief at Remus’s act of friendship. She climbed onto the window ledge and sat next to the sandy-haired boy, dropping her legs to dangle next to his. She looked over to view the side of his face, his sharp jawline, his defined nose and blue, calculating eyes. She noticed he appeared to have one new, long scar drawn across his cheek that she either hadn’t seen or taken notice of before. He was still to look at her.

‘So,’ Remus began, ‘shouldn’t you be patrolling some corridors?’ his tone was impassive as he spoke to her, another exhale of smoke surrounding them.

‘I felt bad, leaving you lonely,’ Dorcas replied, gaining back some of her confidence. It was a mission to find someone who had the same ability of making her feel as on edge as Remus Lupin did.

He finally turned his head to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot and darker than usual. There was a primal hunger radiating from him that seemed to intrigue her. She drew her eyes away from him and looked up into the night sky. An almost full moon was staring back at her. She had always found a full moon beautiful.

‘Thanks,’ Remus said simply, conjuring a small smile once Dorcas looked back at him. He leaned his head back against the arch of the window, taking in the horizon as he sensed Dorcas taking a deep breath. And then he froze. Dorcas had slipped her small hand into his large calloused one and squeezed slightly.

Remus Lupin did not like to be touched. He could barely muster a pat on the back from most folk. He knew James had been the first one to fully notice his reaction to another person’s hands on him. How perceptive James was happened to be one of his more commendable qualities. Unfortunately, that quality always seemed to get lost in a haze of infatuation when it came to Lily Evans.

James had noticed that Remus could only stand a few seconds of physical contact with someone. When anyone would sling their arm around his shoulder or sit too close to him, he could hardly bear it before making an excuse to remove himself from the situation. Only Remus’s closest friends were privy to a rare case of physical contact from the werewolf. But James understood. Once so many people deemed what you are as a monster, anyone would start to believe it. It broke James’s heart every day that his friend thought of himself in such a way, that Remus harboured so much hatred for himself in his soul.

Yet now, with the closeness of Dorcas next to him, her hand in his, their heat mingling. He wasn’t afraid to admit to himself that it felt good.

‘So, I take it you don’t really come up here to study then, do you?’ Dorcas asked teasingly, bumping shoulder with. Remus grinned, feeling a weight lifted off his shoulders and he tossed the fag away.

‘Guilty. I kind of use it as my excuse to get away by myself for a while,’ Remus chuckled, moving his fingers so they now laced through with Dorcas’s, rather than simply palms clamped around each other. Dorcas raised her brows at the surprising intimacy.

‘Sorry, I completely burst in on your alone time up here, I just couldn’t be bothered going about doing rounds by myself. It was between coming here or going to take a bath in the Prefects bathroom,’ Dorcas professed, the warmth of the bathtub water sounding lovely.

‘Oh, don’t worry about disturbing me. For some reason I struggle to sleep before a full moon. I think I have too much energy stored up or something,’ Remus confessed, realising once he’d let the words out that it was quite a risky thing to say. Dorcas, however, didn’t seem phased and simply smiled at him.

‘Okay, good, I was worried that I was being far too intrusive and annoying there,’ Dorcas breathed, her brown eyes shining in the moonlight. Remus noticed that around the pupil of her eye, Dorcas had the most wonderful ring of amber fire that seemed to be bursting out. They were the most unique eyes he’d ever seen.

‘You couldn’t be annoying if you tried,’ Remus reassured her, moving his gaze down to his lap. He felt suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that one day, it would be some other guy sitting with her like this, staring into her eyes and falling for them.

‘Don’t the guys come and keep you company?’ Dorcas asked, referring to James, Sirius, and Peter.

‘No, I’ve never told them. I don’t want them losing any sleep, besides, it’s like I said. I come up here for a little recreation, you could say,’ Remus chortled at his last words, but Dorcas could hear the slight, underlying sadness of his words. Her heart melted for him, and she wanted nothing more than to hug him and make him whole again.

‘Wait here,’ she announced suddenly and got up, rushing out of the classroom, leaving a perplexed Remus Lupin behind. She returned a few minutes later, muttering a spell to bring the lights up in the room and placed a bag on a desk before she began pushing two desks together. She then went back to the bag and pulled out two table tennis paddles and a small, plastic, orange ball.

Remus stared at her as though she had gone absolutely barmy.

‘Get on your feet, Lupin, we’re going to play some table tennis,’ Dorcas grinned, tossing him a paddle. Remus raised an eyebrow in amusement.

‘Where did you even get this from?’ Remus laughed, inspecting both sides of the paddle as he held it in his hand.

‘The Muggle Studies classroom. Professor Marius had us play it last year as an introduction to Muggle games,’ Dorcas explained as she picked up the ball and tossed it playfully in the air.

‘Have you gone delirious from lack of sleep or something, Ace?’ Remus chortled as he got up to walk to the opposite side of the table from her. Dorcas shook her head impishly.

‘Nope! I’m in the mood for something fun,’ she convinced.

‘Game on then, Meadowes,’ Remus beamed competitively. Dorcas tossed him the ball and he set up for first serve.

They played long into the night, Remus winning most of the games. It quickly became apparent that Dorcas was absolutely dreadful at table tennis, demonstrating that she had absolutely no sense of distance or perception of depth. Remus’s laughter bounced off the walls as Dorcas grumbled at what a stupid and ridiculous sport table tennis was.

‘You have bewitched that ball, Lupin, and don’t even _try_ to tell me otherwise!’ Dorcas groaned as she, once again, sent the ball flying across the room, way past Remus’s head. He held his hands in surrender at the accusation.

‘I swear on my life, that ball has not so much as even brushed my wand. You are just terrible,’ Remus teased, noticing a twinkle erupt in Dorcas’s eyes.

‘That is quite the innuendo, Mr Lupin,’ Dorcas giggled.

Quicker than Remus could comprehend it, Dorcas was trying to hit him with her table tennis paddle as revenge for him saying she was terrible. Despite her best efforts, laughter soon took over her and Remus was able to catch her wrists to protect himself from her comical assaults. Remus had to work hard to ignore the voice of Sirius that popped into his head, pointing out how kinky the situation appeared to be.

‘Okay, okay, I’m sorry! But I am just brilliant,’ Remus taunted with a wink, Dorcas rolling her eyes once he finally let go of her and she began resetting the classroom back to its usual order. Remus quickly joined in with helping her.

‘I will get you back, Lupin, you just wait,’ she said deviously, narrowing her eyes at Remus which allowed him to practise stifling his laughter. If there was one the Dorcas was _truly_ dreadful at, it was threats.

‘I’d like to see you try, Ace,’ Remus goaded, causing a loud sigh to leave Dorcas.

‘You just wait and see! We’ll be doing this much more often, and don’t start protesting about me staying up late, I’ve got a point to prove,’ Dorcas said stubbornly, Remus trying his best to ignore how his chest swelled at her words.

‘As long as you catch up on some sleep at some point,’ he grinned down to her.

‘Oh, I am the queen of sleeping, you’ve no need to worry about that,’ Dorcas assured.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Such an underrated little pairing I think Remus and Dorcas are. I think they're quite cute :/  
> Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter, a little Muggle fun tossed in there ;) and for all of you waiting for more of the Sirius/Marlene/Regulus, the next chapter you can very much look forward too, it's one of my favourite I think ;)  
> Thank you again, so much for all the Kudos, comments and support, you guys are truly keeping me going and I honestly cannot even express how much I am loving writing the fic!!   
> Love, Julia xx


	28. Bludgeoned

‘We lose today, Marls, I’m blaming you,’ James announced as he dropped himself down into the seat next to the blonde, Sirius sat across from them with his usual smirk on his face.

‘Oh really? And how did you reach that conclusion?’ Marlene asked, pretending that her childhood friend’s proclamation was more interesting than the letter she’d just received from her brother, Matthew, saying that he’d just got engaged to his long-time girlfriend. Naturally, that put Marlene in a wonderful mood. Unfortunately, James was unable to reply due to the obscene amount of toast he’d decided to shove in his mouth.

‘You weren’t at the last practice before the game, McKinney. You’ve made yourself an easy target,’ Sirius explained for James, who nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Marlene rolled her eyes.

‘Yes, I’m sorry I had to miss the last practice because of an ear infection, _Merlin,_ I am evil. The devil, you could say,’ Marlene replied sarcastically, holding her hands up in surrender. ‘But you’re forgetting something, I carry this fucking team,’ she added the declaration.

James started choking at her words while Sirius raised brows in amused perplexity.

‘Are you hearing yourself, McKinnon? You? Carry the team? I’d like to see you try! You couldn’t carry these muscles if all you did was work out night and day for the next two weeks,’ Sirius exclaimed flexing his bicep to her across the table.

‘You wish you were heavy from muscles, Black. Last time I saw anything, it really wasn’t that impressive,’ she taunted Sirius, leaning forward to him. Her words only made his smirk widen.

‘Maybe it’s time you did a review then,’ Sirius said huskily as Marlene tilted her head to the side, entertained and, if she dared say it, slightly curious.

‘Yes, you two continue your classical banter while I’m just casually _dying_ over here!’ James cried out theatrically as he reached to chug down his goblet of pumpkin juice once he’d finally stopped choking.

‘Always with the dramatic flair,’ Sirius chuckled, without taking his eyes off the blonde in front of him. Her blue eyes had left his as she moved to pat James on the back and console him with his near death experience, but her eyes held a spark Sirius couldn’t quite decipher. He backed off the table that he was leaning on and returned to his breakfast.

‘Don’t worry, Jamie! You’re as fit as a fiddle, so we’ll be able to beat Slytherin in this match, and then Hufflepuff in the final,’ Marlene swore as she moved the conversation back to Quidditch. ‘I mean, we’ve just got to beat Hufflepuff in the final, otherwise I think Rumsfeld will drown himself in the shower.’

‘Speaking of Quidditch obsessed seventh years,’ James muttered as he watched the Gryffindor Keeper draw nearer to them.

‘You three, shift it, let’s go. Rumsfeld’s going to have a seizure if we don’t,’ Matt Fleetwood hurried them along. He was looking particularly dashing in his scarlet Quidditch robes today.

‘Just coming,’ Marlene said for all of them, grabbing one last bite of toast before dragging the other two boys away from the table of food, much to their protests. Brooms in hand, they made their way to the Quidditch pitch, their nerves building with every step they took.

Rumsfeld’s pre-game pep talk was rather more aggressive than usual. A glow of desperation graced his features as he tried to build up his teams momentum for the game. They assumed it was because it was his last chance to win the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup. Despite winning the Cup before, he was desperate to prove himself as Captain.

‘Ciaran,’ Marlene interrupted him gently once he started to stutter slightly, overcome with nerves. She stood up, all the boys’ eyes on her, and walked over to the panicked Captain. She rested a hand on his shoulder, and he looked down to her. ‘It’s all going to be fine, I promise,’ she swore, smiling up at him.

Rumsfeld put his own hand over hers and returned the gesture with a nod.

‘Thank fuck we’ve got at least one girl on the team,’ Lewis Fortescue chuckled, his comment greeted with a glare by the Captain.

‘One of us has to keep a straight head. I can’t trust the rest of you or myself not to fall into pieces,’ Rumsfeld muttered with a smirk while Marlene attempted to suppress a chuckle.

‘And she’s pretty,’ Lewis added with a laugh, throwing the blonde a wink. Marlene cocked a brow to him, amused. James caught Edward sending Lewis a small scowl from his comment.

‘Watch your misogyny, Lewis, I may just set Alice on you,’ Marlene smirked, her threat only making Lewis grin more. Alice was tough and scary but had a soft spot for no one like her brother.

‘Right, enough, let’s get moving,’ Rumsfeld dictated. The team grabbed their brooms and headed for the entrance of the pitch.

Marching onto the freshly mown grass, the scent of adrenaline and excitement filled the team as they could hear the crowds chant and cheer. The Slytherin team matched opposite them. Panning across the team, it was made instantly clear that it was made up entirely of boys, the only school to team to do so. Marlene wrinkled her nose at that fact.

The Captain’s shook hands rather gingerly as Madam Hooch, the Hogwarts flying professor and Quidditch referee, laid down the law of the clean game she wanted. Such requests went in one ear and out the other when it came to matches between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Regulus successfully caught Marlene’s eye. He was the Slytherin Seeker, meaning he and Marlene were playing directly against each other. He raised his brows cockily at her, Marlene returning the teasing by poking her tongue out to him playfully. Sirius’s eyes flicked between the two of them, narrowing slightly.

The two teams kicked off the ground and went soaring into the air. The Quaffle was caught and the Bludgers seemed to by flying across the pitch more aggressively than usual.

James swarmed through the sky after Edward passed him the Quaffle, speeding towards the Slytherin goals. He successfully scored, many a time after around forty minutes of the game, matching the score to Slytherin’s of one hundred and ten points each. Slytherin were proving to be a very tough match for the Gryffindors.

Regulus could feel his brother’s constant eyes on him, not in a friendly fashion. The tracked him unfailingly throughout the match, causing him to frown at Sirius, confused at the sudden burst of attention and stalking. Sirius responded unshakingly with dark eyes.

‘You seem a bit hostile today, Pads,’ James lined his broom up along Sirius who had just finished whacking a Bludger away from them.

‘Yeah, just playing the game,’ Sirius replied through gritted teeth, his eyes catching another Bludger that was hurtling towards the blonde girl dressed in scarlet robes. Ignoring James’s further question, Sirius sped his way over to her to whack the destructive ball away, just in time.

‘Merlin! Thanks,’ Marlene breathed erratically. Sirius could already see the she was getting distracted as she spotted something in the distance that took her attention. She suddenly sped off, and Sirius watched her, smirking.

‘Don’t mention it,’ he whispered to himself as his eyes followed her. He moved his gaze to his brother’s again, who was watching him sceptically. Sirius’s face broke out into a cocky smirk.

The stadium drew a collective breath as they noticed Marlene darting around the pitch, chasing a small fleck of gold. Regulus growled, furious that he had allowed himself to become side-tracked, and started following the Gryffindor Seeker, desperate to join the chase for the Snitch.

Regulus reached the tail end of Marlene’s broom when she suddenly launched herself off the broom and went tumbling to the ground, scarlet robes billowing like hopeless wings behind her. Regulus halted in shock as he watched Marlene drop to the floor with a thud.

‘Fuck,’ James swore, he and the rest of the Gryffindor team instantly flew down to Marlene’s side the second Madam Hooch blew her whistle. To their surprise Marlene had a large grin that almost tickled her ears plastered on her face

‘Marls, what the fuck?’ Matt asked as he kneeled down beside her, Madam Pomfrey rushing towards them in a frantic panic.

‘Calm yourself, people. We’ve won,’ Marlene informed them cockily as she presented the Golden Snitch to them, the small ball fluttering between her thumb and forefinger. The boys around her exploded in cheers of happiness and James flung himself down to hug Marlene with joy.

‘You’re fucking incredible!’ James exclaimed in her ear, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Marlene laughed in response.

‘Jamie, honey, I know you love me, but my back does kind of hurt,’ Marlene chuckled grinning up at the bespectacled boy raised himself to face her.

‘You are wonderful!’ he grinned down at her again before he was pushed out of the way by Madam Pomfrey, joining the circle of celebrations around Marlene as the rest of Gryffindor House started to gather along the field.

‘We did it!’ Rumsfeld yelled joyfully as he pulled the rest of his team into a hug. ‘We’re going big tonight!’

Sirius, for yet another time, caught sight of his brother amidst the hug he was in. Regulus, instead of wallowing in self-pity as the rest of the Slytherin team were at this moment in time, was sporting a small, amused look as he peered on the Gryffindor’s side of celebrations. Marlene was being carried out on a stretcher up to the Hospital Wing and Sirius followed his little brother’s eyeline to see it was set on the blonde Gryffindor Seeker.

‘Pads, mate, we have some drink for tonight, right?’ James interrupted Sirius’s thoughts, flinging an arm round his shoulders.

‘Yeah, it’s all under my bed,’ Sirius replied, forcing himself to break out a grin and face James.

‘C’mon, let’s go get changed and celebrate!’ James sang, the team making their wat back to the dressing rooms, surrounded by the words of congratulations from those around them. They even managed to see one of McGonagall’s small, rare smiles.

Sirius quickly stripped once he was in the changing room and headed straight for the showers. He basked in the heat as the water trickled down him, helping some of his thoughts dissolve, but his head was still swimming. He scrubbed himself raw with soap to get all the sweat off him, feeling a pit growing in his stomach as he did so.

He didn’t realise how long a shower he’d gone for, and by the time he’d got out, the rest of the boys had already left and made their way for the Gryffindor Common Room. He remembered James’s muffled voice yelling that he’d see Sirius up there. Ruffling his hair in a towel, Sirius changed into a grey sweatshirt and black jeans. He shoved on a pair of black shoes and made his way out of the Gryffindor boys’ changing room, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He was about to step onto the pebbled path that led back to the castle when he stopped.

He turned his head to look over his shoulder to the Slytherin changing rooms. He swivelled on the balls of his feet and strode to the green painted door, pushing his way through.

He stood in the doorway of the room, all evidence of the Slytherin team being there gone except for green robes that were hung up in the corner with silver letters on the back of them that spelt out ‘Seeker’. Sirius could hear the water running from one of the showers. It seemed that long showers were a family trait he had been unaware of.

The shower turned off, snapping Sirius out of his thoughts. Regulus Black stepped out of the showers, having dried surprisingly quickly as he was already dressed. A look of surprise covered his features as their two pairs of striking grey eyes met each other.

‘Good game, don’t you think.? Although, I am surprised to find you in here. Changed your mind about Slytherin’s?’ Regulus scoffed, making his way to his bag to pack away his towel. Once he’d done so, he leant against the wall, allowing his elder brother’s scowl to was over him.

‘Don’t touch her,’ Sirius growled. Regulus let out a humourless laugh, smirking at his brother’s pettiness.

‘Who?’ Regulus asked patronisingly, knowing how to wind his brother up.

‘You fucking know who, stay away from her,’ Sirius threatened. He could feel the pit that formed in his stomach start to bubble with anger as Regulus looked back at him arrogantly.

‘Oh, you mean _Marley_ ,’ Regulus taunted. He could see the anger start to build behind Sirius’s eyes as he used the nickname that only his brother used for the blonde witch. Regulus had noticed that Sirius had lately become weirdly protective over Marlene, especially whenever she spoke to him.

‘How do you know about that,’ Sirius seethed, taking a step closer to the boy that looked startlingly alike to himself. Regulus’s smirk only grew.

‘You don’t own her, mate. I don’t think she’d take it too kindly if she found out you were trying to scare me away from her,’ Regulus said arrogantly, rolling his eyes.

‘I think she’d appreciate me trying to prevent snakes from coming onto her,’ Sirius muttered, only providing Regulus with more visible amusement.

‘Sure, bro, that’s the _only_ reason you’re stood here trying to threaten me, nothing else,’ Regulus chuckled as he started to fold his Quidditch robes.

‘I mean it, Reg, don’t you dare try anything with her, or the next time I see you won’t be so friendly. Go shack up with some Slytherin pureblood and leave my friends, _all_ of them, alone,’ Sirius spoke with a deadly voice.

‘Yeah, ‘cause that’s definitely what you’re trying to get at,’ Regulus continued his teasing, unbothered by his brother’s statements.

‘I mean it, fuck off her,’ Sirius scowled, trying to emphasise his point. Regulus shook his head in dismay as his elder brother.

‘Get over yourself! You’re just pissed off because she’s the one girl you’ve tried shit on that won’t give you want and because of that, you go at any other guy who might be interested in her. Grow up!’ Regulus blustered, sick of Sirius trying to control his actions. What he hadn’t expected from him, was a smirk.

‘Really? Because if that’s the case, then I’m a bit worried who it was I fucked last summer if it wasn’t her,’ Sirius bombed the conversation, a smugness overcoming him.

Regulus’s face dropped and felt his stomach flip and the new information. He narrowed his eyes at Sirius to test him.

‘You’re lying,’ he said, but his shaky voice betrayed his thoughts.

‘Get over your little puppy crush on her, Reggie. Besides, I don’t think mummy dearest would approve of you fancying a half-breed,’ Sirius smirked and began heading to the door. Just as he was about to leave, he spotted Regulus out of the corner of his eyes again.

‘You’re becoming more like mother every day, calling her a half-breed,’ Regulus spat, trying to rile Sirius up, but Sirius had already had enough satisfaction for one day.

‘Stay away from my mates, Regulus. Or you and your little Slytherin cult will be very sorry,’ Sirius enunciated carefully before slamming the door behind him.

Regulus’s head felt fuzzy and out of focus. He sat himself down on the bench, consumed by his thoughts. Sirius could very well be lying to get to him. Marlene had never said or done anything to show interest in Sirius the way his brother was insinuating, as far as he knew. In fact, she had always been rather cold and stuck up for Regulus on the occasional times that the three of them ended up conversing, like that time at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.

Sirius strolled into the Gryffindor Common Room and was instantly greeted with cheers and hollers from the crowd. He happily took the first drink that was offered to him and downed it, feeling an instant buzz. He couldn’t help it that his eyes quickly caught Marlene, who sat on the back of the sofa, her feet propped up on the cushions, grinning as she spoke animatedly to Lily.

She had somehow managed to make it back to the Common Room from the Hospital Wing quicker than he had from the changing rooms. Marlene did have a talent for sweet talking anyone which she surely put to good use into convincing Madam Pomfrey that she was fine to be let go of. She looked good, in a blue dress that brought out her eyes and highlighted her hair. She definitely didn’t look like someone that had just fallen off a broom from fifteen feet earlier in the day.

‘Hey, where were you?’ Remus suddenly appeared by Sirius’s side, making the Beater jump out of his skin.

‘Merlin and Arthur, Moony, didn’t your mother ever teach you not to jump out at people like that!’ Sirius breathed, placing a hand on his chest from the fright he’d gotten.

‘Nah, she was too busy making sure I didn’t kill anyone,’ Remus laughed self-deprecatingly. ‘Anyway, James was getting worried at what was taking you so long.’

‘Ah, my one true love,’ Sirius sighed romantically, making Remus toll his eyes at the dramatics. ‘I was taking a shower, ended up taking longer than I thought,’ Sirius added explanatory, grabbing another drink, and returning his gaze on the girl in the blue dress.

Remus frowned at Sirius’s action and matched his own gaze up with the dog’s that led to Marlene.

‘Yeah, good luck with that,’ Remus scoffed.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Sirius asked in mock offence.

‘If there’s once girl who’s got the common sense to say no to you and be witty as she does it, it’s Marls. Again, good luck,’ Remus said with a wink and raised a hand to Hamish, a fifth year Gryffindor who was waving him over. Remus left before Sirius could say anything else.

Marlene and Lily were wrapped up in a conversation with Gideon, Marlene trying to subtly drop hints about how wonderful Lily was to the redheaded boy in front of them. She had been watching Lily try and be friendly over Gideon for the better half of a year now, and frankly, she was getting annoyed at Emmeline cock-blocking the way. If there was one thing she prided herself on, it was her wing woman abilities.

‘Seriously, Marls, that was an impressive dive today, but you did give half of us a bloody heart attack,’ Gideon complimented the blonde with a grin. Marlene waved a hand mockingly at him.

‘I wasn’t planning on doing that at all, but then Lily’s voice popped into my head to just go for it, so I did. A born cheerleader, this one,’ Marlene laughed, tapping Lily’s thigh with her foot while the redhead rolled her eyes.

‘I never said you should end up in the Hospital Wing though! Forget heart attack, you gave me a bloody stroke,’ Lily exasperated, he words making Gideon chuckle.

‘Don’t listen to her, she’s almost as competitive as me,’ Marlene said in a hushed voice to Gideon who grinned as his eyes flicked between the two girls.

‘I’m going to get another drink, do you two want anything?’ Gideon asked, standing up to head to the little makeshift bar someone had made.

‘A shandy, Wizard’s Brew for the beer,’ Marlene smiled at him and he nodded.

‘Same, thanks.’

Gideon left to collect the drinks and Lily turned round to lock eyes with Marlene, widening her eyes at her.

‘Do you mind, I can see what you’re doing!’ Lily whispered, looking over the sofa to make sure Gideon couldn’t hear.

‘And what would that be, Red?’ Marlene teased. She’d adopted the nickname that the Marauders used for Lily, much to Lily’s discontent.

‘You couldn’t be bigging me up more if you tried, Jesus Christ, woman!’ Lily giggled.

‘That’s the idea!’ Marlene replied, throwing her hands up into the air. ‘And you’ve seriously got to explain to me who this Jesus guy is,’ she added as Gideon returned with three drinks in hand. Marlene thanked him graciously before settling in for a night of making Lily Evans into a goddess in the eyes of man (or wizard).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies! :)  
> I had been waiting to write and post that chapter for a while, and I very much hope that you enjoyed it :) as for Blackinnon, I just read a post lately with someone explaining why they don't ship it, and I was just like ... it's really not that deep, is it? There's always plenty of ships that people like and don't like, and nobodies telling you to read stories with ships you're no a fan of. I personally like Blackinnon, simply because Marlene was a complete blank canvas of a given character that we could design as our own, it's the same as shipping Sirius with an OC. But, again, at the end of the day, it's not that deep. Guys, no matter what, who we ship doesn't affect anyone else and I think in a world like this, we all need to bloody relax :) fandoms are supposed to be fun and happy places where people find common ground, not witch-hunts for disagreement - let's just respect one another.   
> I hope you're all well, keeping safe, and doing what makes you happy!  
> Love, Julia xx


	29. Micrurus Fulvius

‘What the fuck?’

‘We appear to have some new additions to the family,’ Alice muttered as she observed the disgruntled looking students who were walking into the Great Hall. They went to the opposite side of the Hall, from where the Gryffindor’s were sat.

‘I’d say the colours rather suit them,’ Marlene chuckled.

‘They look like wolves in sheep’s clothing.’

‘More like snakes in lion’s clothing,’ Alice corrected Lily, smirking.

‘Always so literal,’ Lily rolled her eyes.

‘What happened to them?’ Dorcas asked, frowning as she watched more scowling Slytherin’s enter the Hall. She could already feel the teachers interest being caught as they craned their necks out form the staff table, intrigued by the sight.

‘The better question is _who?’_

‘Who do you think?’

‘It’s so obvious.’

‘The fact that they’re not here right now is proof enough.’

‘I’m surprised they’re not here, if they’re hiding away it just makes them look guilty.’

‘That’s the whole trick of why they’re not here. They _want_ people to know it’s them. That gives them more satisfaction than seeing their handiwork played out itself,’ Marlene shook her head with amusement as she now watched a very confused Slughorn pace up and down the Slytherin table, catching people to ask what was going on.

‘ _I_ heard that they snuck up on loads of them last night and charmed their stuff to change overnight,’ Emmeline said as she, Aurora and Violet join the other girls at the breakfast table.

‘Oh Merlin! Look at that guys hair!’

‘And I keep telling you there’s no way they would have done that, it would have taken way too much time and patience which none of them have!’ Aurora argued, Lily humming in agreement.

‘The fact they can be bothered to do this.’

‘Oh, come on, it is rather funny.’

‘Depends on which side of the joke you are.’

‘So soon after the Slytherin’s lost to them in that Quidditch match as well.’

Lily caught Snape storming into the Great Hall out of the corner of her eye, looking positively livid. He slumped himself into a seat, dolloping some porridge into a bowl and eating it rather angrily. Snape looked up to see Lily look at him, his eyes staring back at her emotionlessly. Lily shrugged her shoulders and mouthed, _sorry_.

‘Did Potter tell you anything about this, Marls?’ Dorcas asked, to which Marlene shook her head, face black.

‘I had a feeling they were planning something, they’ve had that “no one come near us unless you want your head ripped off” vibe about them for the past week. But I didn’t think it was going to be _this_ big of an attack,’ Marlene laughed.

‘Well I love it, I’m never one to say no to a prank, especially on the Slytherin’s,’ Alice stated boldly, crunching on her toast.

‘That’s a bit mean, don’t you think?’ Lily said, her sympathetic side overpowering.

‘Oh Lils, it’s just a bit of fun. You either steer into the skid or you get all grumpy and make it even funnier for everyone else. They could have made a right show of us with this prank, piss us off with it, but instead, they get all grouchy and provide us with free entertainment,’ Alice retorted wittily, shutting Lily up.

‘Slytherin’s aren’t all that bad,’ Marlene chimed.

‘Says the one who’s got the only _normal_ Slytherin as a dad,’ Violet teased.

‘I’m pretty positive Mr McKinnon would have been spared of this prank if he were here now,’ Dorcas confirmed.

‘Mr McKinnon. What a gorgeous dreamboat he is,’ Emmeline said, propping her chin up with her hand as her eyes glazed over.

‘You’re grim,’ Marlene shuddered, chucking the crust of some toast at Emmeline.

_Six Hours Earlier_

‘I hate when we do pranks this late, is it really all that worth it?’ Remus yawned as the boys collected themselves at two in the morning in the Gryffindor Common Room. James rolled his eyes at the sleepy werewolf.

‘Moony, can you just be cool? Once? Please. Just once. Can you just once be cool? Once! Please!’ James groaned as Remus rolled his eyes at them yet again. Sirius was trying his best not to burst into laughter from James’s pleading.

‘Moony, we would’ve gone earlier, but you literally saw it yourself on the Map, that little dick in their Common Room only just went to bed!’ Sirius argued in a more diplomatic fashion from James. ‘Wormtail, did you get the password?’

‘All neatly written down here!’ Peter stated proudly, showing them a small, folded piece of parchment that he’d taken out of his jeans. Peter had spent the evening before crouching outside the Slytherin Common Room entrance under the invisibility cloak, waiting for one of them to arrive and state the password to enter it. For some reason, the Slytherin’s hadn’t been too keen on entering their Common Room that night and Peter had sat there for the better part of an hour waiting to eavesdrop on them.

‘Good, I think that’s us all set then!’ James said cheerfully, fully recovered from Remus’s protests although he could feel the glare of the werewolf still on him. ‘Come on, under the cloak we get, easy does it!’

‘Prongs, I swear to fuck, if you’re this happy the whole night, I will join Moony’s vendetta against you,’ Sirius threatened, the last one to climb under the cloak and the four boys set off out of Gryffindor Tower and made the long walk down to the dungeons.

‘I’ll second that motion,’ Peter muttered.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re the one who’s been desperate to do this prank as soon as possible,’ James replied.

‘That’s ‘cause someone needs to teach those bastard snakes a lesson as soon as possible,’ Sirius continued lowly.

Other than having to press themselves against the wall when a song-humming Professor Slughorn passed them in a particularly tight corridor, the trip down went smoothly, and they stopped to face the bare wall that hid the Slytherin Common Room from intruders and untrained eyes.

‘ _Krackew_ ,’ Peter mumbled, and a passage was revealed to them which led them through to the Common Room.

The Slytherin Common Room was dungeon-like in its exterior, fitting for where it was located. This wasn’t the boys’ first time witnessing the greenish lamps and chairs, the Slytherin’s having been some of their main prank victims. The large room extended partway under the lake, the green lamps not the only aspect to plunge the room into an Irishman’s delight. The atmosphere in the room was grand but cold, the fireplace not adding the warmth that the Gryffindor or Hufflepuff one did.

‘Let’s add some heat here, makes me sad just looking at it,’ James side, arrogantly flopping down into one of the low-backed, leather sofas. They had nowhere near the amount of bounce that the Gryffindor ones did.

‘That’s right, you just make yourself comfortable, why don’t you. We’ll do all the dirty work,’ Remus taunted. James closed his eyes and groaned.

‘Alright, alright, I’m up! Let’s do this,’ James grinned and pulled his wand out of the back pocket of his jeans.

Sirius muttered a spell, the invisibility cloak tucked under his arm. In the centre of the room, a stack of logs appeared, set up in a rather messy and undefined bonfire formation. The four boys were circled around it, the height of the logs beating their own.

‘Impressive,’ Peter mused.

‘Right, set it,’ Remus nodded to James.

James raised his wand. ‘ _Incendio_.’

‘ _Frigidus ignis,_ ’ Remus followed up instantly, freezing the flames that James conjured so they couldn’t go any further than the bonfire that was permitted.

‘That’s pretty,’ Sirius joked, staring up at the flames as they danced in front of them.

‘Thank Merlin that fire has the colours of Gryffindor, makes all this far sweeter,’ Remus grinned, preparing his wand for a few more charms. Peter was running around the room, dotting marshmallows randomly about the place. James chuckled as he watched him.

‘I still don’t think any Slytherin will be stupid enough to eat one of those,’ James said, gesturing to the marshmallows.

‘Don’t underestimate first and second years, Prongsie,’ Sirius said gleefully.

‘Remember how stupid we were then?’ Peter added.

‘I won’t say that’s really changed,’ Remus raised an eyebrow playfully.

As Peter continued placing the marshmallows, Remus focused himself on finished the rest of the prank. Purple sparks flew from his wand into the fire, causing little flares to spark up in the flames.

‘Shit, hurry up, we need to go,’ Sirius suddenly whispered urgently, unfolding the cloak, and already shoving Peter underneath.

‘What why?’ Remus asked, frowning as he was finished off the charm.

‘Because a fucking light just turned on in the hallway upstairs, and I don’t feel like getting caught by some jumped up Slytherin,’ Sirius hissed the explanation.

‘Nope, it’s okay, the lights gone out again, but we should get out of here anyway,’ James announced, shoving his wand into his jean pocket, and exchanging it for the Map.

‘Right, I’m done, let’s go,’ Remus whispered, throwing himself under the cloak and the four of them left the Slytherin Dungeons as safely ablaze as they could.

_Six Hours Later_

‘Here they come,’ Dorcas said huskily.

The girls watched as the four Gryffindor boys walked cockily into the Hall, smirks of smugness on their faces as they were greeted with grins or glares from other students. As they headed to the Gryffindor Table, their heads spun to witness the carnage they produced, a hum of rumours buzzing around them as to how they managed it. They had no need to explain how they did their magic. That would just give too many other people ideas.

They sat down next to the girls at the table, some of which who were showing them rather a lot of attention for their work. Marlene and Alice weren’t having it. Alice unashamedly elbowed some bimbos out the way for her and Marlene to sit in front of them.

‘How the fuck did you manage the hair?’ Alice questioned instantly as some other girls glared at the back of her head.

‘And what is it with you guys and changing people’s hair colour?’ Marlene jumped in.

‘Wow, no “good morning” or “I hope you slept well.” You’re manners are slipping, Fortescue,’ Sirius teased her cheekily as he poured himself some coffee. Alice sighed.

‘Don’t try and be smart, Black,’ Alice scowled.

‘Not all of them have the red and gold hair. How stupid were they?’ Marlene chuckled, knowing some elements of the Marauders pranks very well now. James had exposed some of them, and she knew that if the boys made you look stupid, it’s only because you were stupid to begin with.

‘Marshmallows,’ Remus said cryptically with a mysterious smile. Both Alice and Marlene frowned, exchanging confused looks.

‘Marshmallows?’

‘What the hell does that mean?’ Marlene followed up.

‘A magician never reveals his secrets. Even more so, his shit,’ Sirius winked at the blonde.

‘And the robes?’ Alice pushed further. She swung her head back around to witness the usual black Slytherin robes and their silver and green ties were now obnoxiously boasting gold and scarlet stripes across them all. The boys were not planning on telling anyone the fact that they didn’t actually know when the charm would wear off. The items of clothing they’d practiced on a few days before were still holding their new patterns strongly.

‘Fireworks,’ James stated, taking a sip of pumpkin juice like he was the king of the world.

‘Fireworks?’ Marlene repeated after a pause.

‘ _Raining_ fireworks,’ Peter confirmed.

‘We’re not going to get shit out of you, are we?’ Alice smirked, leaning back to fold her arms, and shaking her head.

‘Like Sirius said. A magician never reveals his secrets,’ James smiled.

‘This is stupid, you could just set the record straight on how you did it and then have people properly appreciate it,’ Marlene attempted to negotiate.

‘There was a reason Dorian Gray didn’t show the portrait of himself anywhere. Other people would want a piece of the magic, and besides, the portrait was _messy_ ,’ Remus chortled as he buttered a crumpet.

‘Who?’ Alice asked, perplexed. Remus rolled his eyes at the question. He appeared to be doing that a lot in the last six hours.

‘You’ll learn about that when you’re older, squirt,’ he said, riling Alice up.

His words caused Alice to end up spending up to midnight in the Library for the search of Dorian Gray after she’d asked Lily what Remus was on about. Lily had giggled at her a little before explaining that it was a novel by Oscar Wilde and although she didn’t have a copy with her at Hogwarts, she’d allow Alice to borrow it. For Alice, that wasn’t good enough, as she wanted to stick it to Remus that she actually knew what he was talking about. So, she had somehow managed to stay in the Library past midnight, searching every shelf of fictional books and Muggle literature to try and find it but nothing. Once it was closing in on one o’clock in the morning, she called it quits and headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

Rubbing her eyes, she managed to get back without getting caught, entering the warmth of the Common Room. She walked past the couch, only to stop suddenly and take a few steps back to look at it again.

‘Cas?’ Alice asked sleepily, ‘What are you doing here? It’s late.’

‘Thanks for stating the obvious,’ Dorcas replied coldly. She sat up straighter on the sofa as Alice stepped closer.

‘Everything alright?’ Alice asked tediously.

‘Here,’ Dorcas said, chucking a book at Alice, quite violently. Alice, although surprised, caught it without bending the cover or any pages and held it in her hands. It read; _The Picture of Dorian Gray_.

‘Shit, where did you get this?’ Alice asked with a grin, dropping down into the squishy armchair opposite Dorcas. She looked up to see Dorcas wasn’t smiling.

‘The Library. I signed it out at lunch,’ Dorcas explained.

‘Ugh … Thanks?’ Alice said, confused by the cold demeanour Dorcas was treating her with.

‘So I was thinking you might do something for me,’ Dorcas said, playing with one of her hangnails. She had a habit of biting her nails which Alice was always trying to get her to stop.

‘Of course. What d’you want?’ Alice hesitated. The way Dorcas was speaking to her was not Dorcas’s style. She was never this frosty and calculating.

‘Can you finally fucking tell me why you _didn’t_ tell me about Frank,’ Dorcas demanded, the fierceness of her voice making Alice jump.

‘Oh. That.’

Alice swallowed, avoiding eye contact with the girl she so fondly called her best friend, even though she hadn’t particularly been acting like one part of the duo for the better half of almost a year. She thought back to when Marlene had insisted that Alice should be the one to bring up the topic of conversation and kicked herself for waiting longer. It would have been far less awkward if she had.

Silence had surrounded the two girls until Alice looked up to see Dorcas scoffing as she stood up, crossing her arms.

‘You know what, _fine._ If you don’t want to tell me, that’s your business, but don’t expect me to tell you anything, since if you can’t trust me, I can’t trust you,’ Dorcas huffed and set off to leave but Alice grabbed her wrist.

‘No, I’m sorry, you’re right. Please stay, I promise to explain,’ Alice implored. She could see Dorcas visibly swallow as she sat down again, looking at Alice expectantly.

‘In your own time then, ‘cause we’ve got all night,’ Dorcas muttered passive-aggressively, but Alice chose to let it slide. Normally if someone spoke to her in that way, she would call them out for it, but Alice knew it was neither her place nor right to start pointing out Dorcas’s present mannerisms.

‘Honestly, at first I was nervous because he was older,’ Alice confessed, her gaze flicking between Dorcas and the floor. Dorcas shifted in her seat showing more interest. ‘I didn’t want to be judged by a load of girls for going out with one of the heartthrobs of sixth year, or, fifth year then, I guess.’

‘You could have told me, though. I wouldn’t have judged, you know I wouldn’t,’ Dorcas’s exterior started to soften, which Alice was thankful for. It made it easier to talk.

‘I know, and I was stupid about it. I think part of it as well was that I was the first one of us lot to get a proper boyfriend. I just felt like I was suddenly moving a million miles an hour, especially with Frank being older,’ Alice continued.

‘So, you thought we wouldn’t be able to keep up with you or something?’ Dorcas questioned, trying to understand. Alice shook her head.

‘Not exactly. I definitely didn’t think I was more mature or anything, but I guess I just felt like Frank and I would be difficult to relate to for you girls.’

‘Huh,’ Dorcas hummed, more to herself than Alice.

‘I can’t quite fully explain how I was feeling back then, to be honest, ‘cause it’s a million miles away from how I feel now,’ Alice added. ‘Fifteen felt like such a bizarre and whirlwind time for me.’

‘I guess I kind of get you. But I would have still thought that out of anyone, you could have still came to me, no matter the situation. You know I’ll always support you. I mean, how James and that lot knew before I did is beyond me,’ Dorcas said, some residual hurt still clear from her healing wound. Alice’s eyes widened at the statement.

‘No, _no!_ That was a complete mistake, Frank and I accidentally walked into a room together that they were in and they figured it out!’ Alice said, toning down the details of how things went down that day. ‘They were never meant to know before you, I promise!’

‘Trust them to somehow be in the centre of everything new and exciting,’ Dorcas giggled, the noise relaxing Alice.

‘And, if I’m being honest, at the start, I was kind of shallow about Frank and me. I liked having it a secret, it was fun, a bit dangerous, you know. We had some of the best times sneaking around the school together, without anyone suspecting anything. Well, except Marlene, -’

‘No surprise there.’

‘- but as it went on, I just wanted to tell you more and more each day. But stuff got in the way, and it just got later and later to the point where it would be weird if I just suddenly came out and said, “by the way, I’ve got a boyfriend, thought you might like to know”,’ Alice finished, feeling quite out of breath after her lengthy prose. She felt a bubble of nerves build in her belly as Dorcas looked at her. They disintegrated when her friends face broke out into a smirk.

‘So, have you done it?’ Dorcas asked teasingly with a wink. Alice laughed bashfully, completely surprised that those were the first words out of Dorcas’s mouth.

‘Yes,’ Alice affirmed timidly, making Dorcas cackle with laughter. Alice was never shy about anything, so seeing this reaction was a real treat.

‘Is he _good_?’ Dorcas wiggled her brows suggestively, bringing out (she was pretty sure) the first ever Alice Fortescue blush.

‘Oh, Merlin,’ Alice giggled, rubbing a hand across her forehead. She had never spoken about sex with Frank with anyone yet, other than Frank. She was rather surprised that this was her reaction to it.

‘Ooh, that means _yes!_ ,’ Dorcas squealed with delight, clasping her hands together. ‘Is he big, he looks like he’d be big.’

‘Fucking hell, _yes_ , his dick is beautiful,’ Alice blurted out monotonously, which only seemed to fuel Dorcas’s delight.

‘You better get used to questions like this at random times, girlfriend! I have some revenge to catch up on for you not telling me,’ Dorcas taunted, sitting back into the couch smugly.

‘You’re going to be evil, aren’t you?’ Alice narrowed her eyes playfully.

‘Don’t come at me, you deserve it,’ Dorcas shrugged, grinning. ‘Now tell me, what’s the sexiest thing he’s done so far?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think everyone is very happy at this point that Dorcas and Alice have made up :) I can't believe we're almost on Chapter 30, this is honestly quite wild, I did not expect to enjoy writing this book as much as I am, truly!! Honestly, at this point I have a notebook so full of ideas that i'm struggling to find all the different places I can put them in and spread them out ahaha :)  
> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I cannot thank you enough for you're continued support you're all some of the most lovely people in the world, and always feel free to drop me a message on Tumblr if you want to geek out about the Marauders with me!! :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	30. The Pledge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Parts of this chapter belong directly to JKR and her HP books, but have been amended to fit the story.

The sun shone down warmly on the turrets of the Hogwarts castle, the Black Lake shimmered with glee, but many were avoiding the glory of the grounds and were stuck inside, books whizzing around the Library. Flashcards and stray quills could be found in almost every corner of the castle. Needless to say many found it almost impossible to find the motivation to study on such sunshine filled days.

Due to the looming exams, however, that allowed for the courtyard of the castle to be empty and the perfect place for private conversation. Two people had just that idea, though, rather than a conversation, it was more a case of discontent.

Lily and Snape were walking across the castle courtyard, evidently arguing. The level to which their voices were rising, it would not have been difficult for anyone to eavesdrop on the dispute.

‘So what, you’re saying you don’t think you can hang around me anymore, even like this? I thought we were supposed to be friends?’ Snape despaired. ‘Best friends?’

‘We _are,_ Sev, but I don’t like some of the people you’re hanging around with! I’m sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! _Mulciber!_ What do you see in him, Sev? He’s creepy! D’you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?’

Lily had reached a pillar and leaned against it, looking up into Snape’s thin, sallow face.

‘That was nothing,’ Snape said. ‘It was a laugh, that’s all -’

‘It was _dark_ , Sev, they hurt her, and if you think that’s funny -’

‘What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?’ Snape demanded. His colour rose again as he said it, unable, it seemed, to hold his resentment.

‘What’s Potter got to do with anything?’ Lily asked, frowning.

‘They sneak out at night. There’s something weird about that Lupin. Where does he keep going?’

‘He’s ill,’ Lily said. ‘They say he’s ill-’

‘Every month at the full moon?’ Snape badgered, a dark look flashing his eyes. Lily forced herself to take a deep breath. She had, quite frankly, had enough of Snape’s accusations of Remus. Remus was her friend. She would not allow him to be slandered.

‘I know your theory,’ Lily said, sounding cold. ‘Why are you so obsessed with them anyway? Why do you care what they’re doing at night?’

‘I’m just trying to show you that their not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are.’

The intensity of Snape’s gaze made Lily blush.

‘No matter my opinion on any four of them, you know that I don’t think they’re as wonderful as everyone else does. They don’t use Dark Magic, though, and you _know_ that using a jinx on someone every now and then is nowhere near as bad as what your friends are starting to do,’ Lily dropped her voice. ‘It shows how low your opinion is of Muggle-borns, of _me!_ At least Potter and that lot somewhat treat everyone the same, even if they have a superiority complex!’

Snape’s whole face contorted, and he spluttered, ‘You’re comparing! You’re not going to - I won’t let you -’

‘ _Let_ me? _Let_ me?’

Lily’s bright green eyes had narrowed into cat-like slits. Snape backtracked instantly.

‘I didn’t mean - I just don’t want to see you made a fool of - he fancies you, James Potter fancies you!’ The words seemed to be wrenched from Snape against his will. ‘And he’s not … Everyone thinks … Big Quidditch hero -’ Snape’s bitterness and dislike were rendering him incoherent, and Lily’s eyebrows were travelling further and further up her forehead.

‘I know James Potter’s an arrogant toerag,’ she said, cutting across Snape. ‘I don’t need you to tell me that. But Mulciber and Avery’s idea of humour is just evil. _Evil,_ Sev. I don’t understand how you can be friends with them.’

Observing him, Lily doubted that Snape even heard her strictures of Mulciber and Avery. The moment she had insulted James Potter, specifically, his whole body relaxed. Lily prevented herself from rolling the eyes at the reaction. She knew that James Potter brought out the worst in Snape as it was, but when she was linked with the glasses-bearing boy, it seemed to vex Snape to a whole other level. However, he seemed to now have a new spring in his step, and Lily wasn’t about to ruin this new, good mood.

They bid each other goodbye, Lily insisting that she was in dire need to study for a timed Potions essay they had coming up. Snape agreed and he gave her a quick hug before rushing off in the opposite direction. Lily sighed and looked over her shoulder. Springtime at Hogwarts truly was lovely. Her eyes caught onto a certain blonde who was sat under a large tree by the Lake, the same tree Snape had been attacked under by the now infamous Giant Squid.

‘Care to share the joke?’ Lily asked as she sat down next to Marlene in the sun. The blonde was giggling at a piece of parchment she was holding in front of her. She looked up and grinned at Lily, folding over the letter.

‘Nah, it’s just my brother being an idiot again, no surprise,’ Marlene replied, shuffling over on her robes that she had laid out into a makeshift picnic rug so Lily could sit down beside her.

‘Which one?’ Lily asked slyly, Marlene rolling her eyes.

‘The one you think is “hot”, Merlin only knows why,’ Marlene wrinkled her nose, raising her hands to form make-shift quotation marks around the disturbing word her friends liked to describe her brother with.

‘Ah, Matthew _is_ a creature sent from the heavens, it must be said,’ Lily giggled dreamily as Marlene proceeded to gag exaggeratedly beside her.

‘You were definitely dropped on the head as a baby if you think Matt is fit,’ Marlene shuddered, closing over the Arithmancy book she’d been studying from.

‘Just make sure to keep letting him know that I am single and available,’ Lily teased, laughing as Marlene sent her a death glare.

‘Disgusting behaviour, that is.’

‘How do you have the willpower to sit out here on such a lovely day and study, I’d just end up sunbathing,’ Lily changed the subject, moving lay on her back and close her eyes.

‘That Library is too stuffy and crowded to do any proper work in. I’d rather get the fresh air, and anyway, I think the Giant Squid and I are friends now, to be honest. I could swear it started waving at me a few minutes ago,’ Marlene went off on a tangent, her imagination running wild. It was a tendency of hers.

They sat in silence for a few moments, Lily gladly soaking in the sun after being shut up in the darkened Library all day. She had nearly gotten knocked out by a few books from the ferocity at which they were flying around the Library back to their appropriate shelves. It was really quite a dangerous environment to be in during exam season.

‘Reckon Remus will ever ask out Cas?’ Lily questioned suddenly, opening her eyes to see a butterfly fluttering past. The Hogwarts ground were gorgeous in the spring, the grass dotted with a carpet of daisies. It was partly why Lily loved it so much. Daisies were her favourite flower.

Marlene looked down at the redhead, bemused. ‘Why the sudden interest?’

‘Because they fancy the fuck out of each other and I wish one of them would just grow a pair and admit it to the other,’ Lily chuckled, propping herself up on her elbows so she could look out onto the Lake. ‘I do guess it’s more complicated than that, though,’ she added, a soft breeze pushing a few red strands of hair out of her face.

‘What do you mean?’

Lily sighed, screwing up her eyes to get a better view of the world of which the sun was currently blinding.

‘I think, well, Remus just seems more complicated. There’s more to him than he lets anyone on, you know, he’s secretive,’ Lily voiced, rambling a little.

‘A man of mystery. Sexy,’ Marlene chuckled to herself, making Lily roll her eyes but smirk all the same.

‘That’s not how I meant it, and you know it! I just feel like there’s more holding Remus back from asking Cas out than just nerves. At least _I_ think she’s made it pretty clear that she likes him,’ Lily elaborated, shifting her position again to make herself more comfortable.

‘Like what?’ Marlene asked. She was cautiously trying to keep her tone light and airy so Lily wouldn’t suspect anything, but alarm bells were going off in her head.

‘Well, - and I know you don’t approve of him - but Severus isn’t wrong. He does disappear every month, around the full moon as well, which is strange, and it is hard not to realise unless you’re completely oblivious. I just don’t think that the excuse of him going to see his mum holds up anym -’

‘His mum _is_ the real reason of why he’s gone,’ Marlene interrupted, rather forcefully, but she turned her head away from Lily so she could recompose herself. She busied herself with finding a packet of sweets in her bag that she was planning to eat during her studies. She was wishing for nothing more than to move off this topic of conversation.

‘But the poor guy comes back wrecked each time. And I’ve heard rumours that he spends time in the Hospital Wing once he’s back. I don’t know, to me it just seems a little dodgy,’ Lily aired out her thoughts, waiting for Marlene to turn back to her.

‘I’ve heard that he apparently owns a really badly behaved rabbit,’ Marlene said stuffily, a gobstopper preventing clear speech. Lily happily took one of the large sweets out of the plastic bag that Marlene was offering and popped it in her mouth. Lily loved those gobstoppers. They were one of the closest things you could find to Muggle sweets in Honeydukes.

‘What? That’s hilarious, do people actually believe that?’ Lily questioned the absurd rumour that Marlene had presented to her.

‘It is definitely one of the more interesting theories I’ve ever heard, people will say anything for a good story and a bit of attention. I think Cas was the first one to mention that one circling around to me, actually,’ Marlene smiled as she pictured Remus trying to desperately tame and control and adorable yet somehow vicious fluffy, white bunny rabbit.

‘That is one savage, floppy-eared creature then, that’s for sure,’ Lily said, her voice laced with amusement.

‘It’s a weird one. I just want to see him and Cas happy, they’re good for each other,’ Marlene stated, glad they had gotten the topic away from being so directed at Remus and the full moon. ‘So, you mentioned Snape?’

Lily sighed. ‘Yes, Marls, he’s my friend. I was speaking to him just before I came down here to you.’

‘That doesn’t sound like it went well,’ Marlene said gently, noticing Lily’s bitterness.

‘I kind of berated him for the company he keeps, and he got a bit angry. Surely you can’t blame me, though, I mean, he hangs out with _Mulciber._ Did you hear what they did to Mary Macdonald, that whole pack of Slytherin’s?’ Lily asked, feeling the need to go on a bit of a rant.

‘I did, yeah, it’s horrible,’ Marlene sounded.

‘I just don’t understand how Sev can treat me, a Muggle-born, so differently to the other Muggle-borns at Hogwarts. I mean, what makes me so different? I’m everything that house hates,’ Lily said, clearly upset. Marlene moved closer to comfort her.

‘You were his first friend, Lils, his _only_ friend for a while. I don’t think Snape’s someone who can let go of something like that so easily,’ Marlene put her arm around her best friend.

‘And then he started to go on and on about Potter and all his mates, saying that what he and Mulciber and what all the Slytherin lot were doing was no worse than the pranks Potter pulls, which, I mean, just clearly isn’t true,’ Lily continued. ‘And then he tried to throw it in my face, saying that Potter fancies me and all that, which he _doesn’t_.’

Marlene rubbed Lily’s back with her palm in circles, trying to calm her down. ‘Well, he’s definitely wrong about one thing. What James and the boys do is definitely nowhere near the level of what Snape and his cronies like to have fun with,’ Marlene tried to reassure her.

‘Marls, he _doesn’t_ fancy me, Potter just likes to irritate the living daylights out of me. If he did like me, he would show a little respect to Sev because he’s still my friend, no matter how much he didn’t like me,’ Lily spoke adamantly.

‘It doesn’t matter, what matters is that Snape had no right to talk to you like that, even if you are best friends! He _should_ be able to respect you and your decisions, as well as not try to control you. But I am very offended that he tried to compare James to that little Slytherin cult of theirs,’ Marlene couldn’t help but be snarky about that part.

‘I know, I know. You have every right to defend Potter anyway. You’re practically twins, haven’t been separated since birth,’ Lily sighed with a soft sniffle.

‘Whatever you like to say, Lils, but he’s not always an idiot _toerag,_ as you like to call him. He’s actually very decent once you get to know him, and compared to Mulciber, he’s a fucking angel,’ Marlene put dramatically, defending James. Lily giggled slightly at the intensity of Marlene’s praise.

‘Yes, but you have to get past the “getting to know him” phase first, which is, quite frankly, a pain in the arse,’ Lily replied, finding it impossible to think that the bespectacled boy who randomly threw jinxes at people in the corridor for fun, could ever be considered as decent.

‘Do you not think that, just maybe, your vision about James has been clouded for years and you’re not seeing things for how they actually are?’ Marlene asked her, but Lily noticed that it sounded for like a statement than a question.

‘Elaborate,’ Lily said, sitting up to pay more attention.

‘C’mon, Lils. You’ve _got_ to admit, a big reason as to why you think James is the biggest prat to walk the earth is because Snape thinks so,’ Marlene explained, trying to come across as passive as possible. She knew she was walking into dangerous territory.

Lily’s frowned deepened. ‘I know that Severus’s judgment in friends is a bit skewed as of recently, but he was never wrong about Potter being a bully,’ she put firmly.

‘You’ve only properly seen one side of James.’

‘And that side is ugly enough to make me uninterested in getting to know him anymore,’ Lily argued stubbornly. She felt a bubbling, a hotness in the pit of her stomach.

‘You’ve never given him the chance to show you anything different! Snape provoked him all the time, Lily, you know that,’ Marlene bit back.

‘So jinxing and hexing first years in the corridor and taunting Sev for all those years, _that_ was meant to be a good side of him?’ Lily questioned furiously, clearly unwilling to understand any defensive response.

‘Look, I’m not defending his actions -’

‘Then what are you doing?’

‘I’m defending him as a person, his character! Yes, he’s a twat, and yes he can be rude and annoying and downright arrogant, but that doesn’t make his heart any less. You’re missing the fact that he’s growing up,’ Marlene answered fiercely.

Lily rolled her eyes and clamped her mouth shut. For all of Marlene’s faults, she was brutally loyal and would defend her friends to her last dying breath. It was something that Lily greatly admired, but in situations like these, also hated. Deep down, she knew there was truth to what Marlene was saying, not that she’d ever admit it to her blonde friend. She wouldn’t even admit it to herself.

‘Wow. This looks tense,’ Marlene and Lily looked up to see Alice and Dorcas had come over and were looking down to them.

‘We’re fine,’ Marlene breathed, squinting to look at them as the two sat down.

‘You sure?’ Dorcas questioned, her eyes flitting between the two of them. She was met by nods and grimaced smiles in response.

Marlene sat back against the tree again and dazed out of the conversations that followed, her mind running over the argument with Lily. Before, the redhead would have always stuck to her guns about James Potter, defended Snape in retaliation and insisted that James was a bully until she was blue in the face and Marlene gave up. This time, she had let Marlene come out victorious and allowed her the last word. She had permitted the final word to be that James could be a good person, _was_ a good person.

 _Progress,_ Marlene thought calmly.

Dorcas and Alice didn’t stay for long, other missions calling them. Alice was to meet up with Frank while Dorcas was to go and help Professor Kettleburn with some unicorns that roamed the Hogwarts grounds, leaving Marlene and Lily alone again. Between them, the atmosphere was still tense.

‘I’m sorry for snapping,’ Lily apologised suddenly. She knew despite Marlene having a heart of gold, she was stubborn with iron pride. Although they were the kind of friends that forgave each other quickly without words and let bygones be bygones, Lily felt it was her duty this time to apologise. She had, essentially, just greatly offended Marlene’s brother, and she couldn’t fault the blonde for losing her temper in this scenario.

Marlene gave her a small smile as she twirled her wand between her fingers.

‘It’s okay,’ she said, her voice appreciative. ‘We all know James can be a bit of a prick, that’s nothing new.’

‘I should respect your friendship with him more, though. He is your brother, after all,’ Lily continued her apology.

‘Yeah, but you’re my sister. You’re way too important to me for us to be arguing over Potter,’ Marlene laughed. Lily shifted so her whole body was facing Marlene, her eyes wide.

‘Let’s make a pact, then,’ Lily offered. ‘Let’s promise that no matter what was to ever happen, we stay friends always. Even if the whole world walks out on us, we’ll be there to carry the weight together.’

Lily stuck her little finger out in front of her. With a lazy grin, Marlene hooked her own pinkie around Lily’s and squeezed them tight together.

‘I swear, Lily Evans, that even when we’re apart, I’ll always be with you, no matter what cringey or nonsensical shit you get up to,’ Marlene teased with a wink. Lily grinned back and the two let go of each other’s hands, giggling at how soppy the situation was.

‘I do truly mean it though, Marls. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you,’ Lily thought aloud, worry clear in her voice. Marlene leaned in closer to her.

‘Well then, it’s a good thing you’re never going to have to. I’m not going anywhere, magic would have to break before I let that happen,’ Marlene assured her, sincerity running deep to her core.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, the amount of uni and results stress I've endured today, I'm sorry I couldn't get this up sooner, but it's been a bloody long day, let me tell you. I just can't wait for all the waiting and stress to be over by September, because fucking hell, exam boards like stretching this shit out.  
> So, now that my rant is over, I hope you guys have enjoyed this little segment in our Marauders saga, I feel like we've been missing the girls a little bit lately and I want to be able to show Lily and Marlene's friendship a little more. I haven't had any friend drama in so long that it's been a little weird to even write about it, lol :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	31. Ordinary Wizarding Levels

To say that stress was abundant across the Hogwarts castle during the month of May would be an understatement. There was no time where the seventh years hated the fifth years as much as when they were taking their NEWTs, and there was no time that the fifth years hated any other year below them as much as when they were taking their OWLs. No one could agree on who was more stressed, who took harder subjects and who was in more need of quills and parchment.

The Great Hall was in a constant scheme of disarray as the set up flicked between the long, Hall length tables during mealtimes to the large number of singular tables dotted across the Hall in neat rows during the examination timetable. There was a specific reason why Slughorn left teaching the sixth years how to concoct the Draught of Peace until this late in the year; Madam Pomfrey administered it to stressed out students quicker than it could be brewed.

‘Well,’ Alice slammed down into a seat with the other three girls next to the Marauders the lunch after their first written exam, Charms. ‘That’s my future gone down the shitter.’

‘You won’t have done nearly as badly as you think, relax,’ Lily tried to calm her, whipping some flashcards out of the pocket of her robes. Alice scowled at her, seemingly ungrateful for the encouragement.

‘ _You_ , are in no place to talk, Miss Evans. I saw you in that exam, hand whizzing across the page as though it inhaled a Fizzing Whizbee. From now on, you do not exist in my eyes,’ Alice said pompously, Lily laughing at her words in amusement

‘Ladies, ladies, let’s not cat fight here. Although, it is written somewhere in the rules that, as a guy, you never break up a girl fight,’ Sirius chimed in with his usual unhelpful banter.

‘Charming,’ Remus noted.

There wasn’t much talk going on between the girls and Remus after that, they’d all taken to having their heads buried in books as James, Sirius and Peter decided to mess around and play with their food as all intelligent, mature sixteen year olds like to do. The scolding glare of McGonagall only enticed their actions as she walked over to them, seemingly with some order of business.

‘Mr Potter, Mr Black, Mr Pettigrew, wouldn’t it do you good in your examinations for you to spend your free time in preparation for them, rather than throwing chips around?’ she asked, but they all knew it wasn’t a question.

‘We’ve just come out of a two and a half hour Charms exam, Minnie, surely we’ve earned ourselves some slacking,’ James grinned up at her. He could practically hear Lily’s eye roll behind him.

‘Yes, you are, somehow old enough to decide what to do with your own time, though some might dispute giving you that power,’ McGonagall raised a thin eyebrow. ‘I am actually here to talk to Miss McKinnon.’

Marlene raised her head in response to hearing her name, surprised at the mention.

‘Yes, Professor?’ she asked politely, dog-earing the page of the book she was reading.

‘Ah, there you are. It is about your interest in Alchemy, Miss McKinnon,’ McGonagall announced moving closer to the blonde. ‘Now, as usual, there is no high demand to include Alchemy in the sixth year curriculum next term, in fact, you’re the only one interested in taking it. However, Professor Slughorn has sung your praises in Potions, so we _are_ willing to proceed with the class next year, but you would be all on your own. Are you absolutely sure you want to take it?’

‘Yes, one hundred percent, Professor,’ Marlene smiled gently. McGonagall pursed her lips.

‘Very well, Miss McKinnon,’ McGonagall nodded. ‘You’re lucky you’ve got Professor Slughorn backing you. We would not put this class on just for anyone,’ she seemed to warn before bidding the rest of them a good day and gliding out of the Hall.

‘Why would you _choose_ to take such a difficult subject, McKinney?’ Sirius leaned on the table so he could get a better look at her.

‘I know, what is it you actually want to do when you leave here?’ James furthered the question. For as close as himself and Marlene were, they had never really spoken on the topic.

‘I want to work in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry,’ Marlene confessed, somewhat nervously as she gulped after she said it.

‘Same,’ Remus jumped in quickly.

‘Shit, so you don’t want to be an Auror?’ Sirius quizzed, surprised at her response. ‘Breaking up the McKinnon family tradition.’

‘Have you told your dad?’ James asked.

‘No, I haven’t. And I’m not planning to for a while,’ Marlene replied, busying herself with the mashed potato on her plate. ‘As you can probably imagine, it’s a bit of a touchy subject at my house.’

‘Yeah, I remember when Max said he wanted to play Quidditch and be a Keeper in his sixth year. Your dad went mental,’ James said, chuckling slightly at the memory of the dinner where Max decided to reveal his life plan.

‘You don’t need to remind me,’ Marlene muttered glumly.

‘Isn’t it quite a weird job, though? Nobody actually knows what they’re getting into with it until they actually work there,’ Dorcas added, her look thoughtful.

‘Why don’t you want to be an Auror?’ Remus asked, disregarding what the others were saying and looking to Marlene with an encouraging smile.

‘I want more than just chasing down bad wizards and then filling out paperwork about them. I want to get to the root of the problem, why they do what they do. I like research, I want to learn my whole life, not be stuck in a paperwork job,’ Marlene explained, Remus grinning as she did. He understood her completely.

‘I reckon you’ll be a stellar detective, Marls,’ Lily grinned, proud of her friend for breaking the mould. ‘Can’t have too many Auror’s anyway, it would get boring.’

‘Hey, I want to be an Auror,’ Alice bumped shoulder with Lily playfully.

‘Count me in as well,’ Sirius said, causing all heads to turn to him. He was surprised at the sudden burst of attention, although James continued on eating his lunch. He had known this fact about Sirius for years.

‘Really, an Auror?’ Lily questioned.

‘Yeah, why is this all such a revelation to everyone?’ Sirius frowned.

‘Dunno. Just thought you’d be more one to go and travel the world, try being a Muggle for a while. Wouldn’t think it in you to hold down a job, let along Auror training,’ Peter voiced what everyone was thinking.

‘Actually, it makes sense,’ Marlene said, grabbing Sirius’s attention.

‘Why’s that?’ Dorcas asked, chewing a bite of pie.

‘Well, _I_ have no idea what in Merlin’s name I want to do when I finish here,’ James said loudly, reverting the attention off Sirius. Everyone groaned, unwilling to hear another of James’s lengthy career ideas that made absolutely no sense and were entirely improbable. One of his wonderful ideas was to fly on his broomstick to the moon and start a unicorn farm where he was convinced they’d glow even brighter than they normally did. He’d call the super unicorns, come back to earth, and try to sell their hair to wand makers with the concept that their hair could make the most powerful wands in the world.

‘No surprise there,’ Lily mumbled into her soup. Without flinching, James heard the comment, his face instantly breaking out into a grin.

‘I’ll make sure my profession is one where I get very hurt all the time, my Lily flower. Then, I’ll be able to come to St Mungo’s and see your pretty Healer face every day,’ he teased Lily with a wink, who now added an extra groan after everyone’s collective one.

‘In you pathetic little dreams, Potter,’ she retorted, trying to remain focused on the work she had in front of her.

‘I see you in my dreams every night, my darling,’ James said in a sickly-sweet voice, making Sirius gag.

‘What about you, Cas, what do you want to do?’ Peter said, trying to take everyone’s attention off James so there wouldn’t be a serious case of vomit within the next five minutes.

‘Oh, I want to be an Auror,’ Dorcas replied, smiling at Peter. ‘But I don’t really care about all that too much, there’s so much more I want to do that just work.’

‘What d’you mean?’ Alice asked.

‘I really want to fall in love,’ Dorcas sighed as she smiled. ‘At least once. Like, be truly, properly in love. I don’t think there could be any better feeling than loving someone and being loved back. It must be better than magic.’

Alice smiled to herself, a small secret smile. It was better than magic, although she hadn’t told Frank yet, she hadn’t felt like it was the time. She could admit to herself that she was a bit scared to say it. Once she said it, it was like she was forever letting Frank into her heart in a way that she couldn’t let him out. She was giving him full permission to hurt her then, and she really didn’t want to get hurt. But she felt it. The love. It was there.

The bell rang to announce the end of lunch and the eight of them went off in their different directions, either to another exam, or to study or (in some cases) mess about.

The boys, especially James, Sirius, and Remus, seemed to have the ability to pass exams in such a way that they barely needed to study while the rest of their peers spent the best part of three months studying, revising, and ripping their hair out at every possible opportunity in stress.

They were laughing as they walked down the corridor, heading up to the Gryffindor Tower to kick their feet back and relax. During the exam season, they had no classes as a result of teachers wanting them to spend every possible second revising, so the Common Room was significantly less packed than normal. It was one of the many luxuries they were looking forward to for their sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts. They would be given free periods, that were technically intended for them to be studying and preparing for NEWTs. In the boys eyes, however, the teachers were mad to offer so much free time during the day and not expect them to use it on pranks.

James was in the process of shoving Sirius into a wall for a sleazy comment he just made when his eyes suddenly caught bright blue ones. His smile dropped slowly as Genevieve stared back at him, books pressed against her chest. The boys around him quietened, passing curious looks between each other. Genevieve, with the corners of her mouth turned downwards, dropped eye contact with James and visibly breathed in deeply before rushing past the group of boys, unwilling to make conversation.

‘Well that was odd,’ Remus broke the silence as they looked in the direction the strawberry-blonde girl disappeared. ‘Just _how_ much of a dickhead were you to her?’

‘S’not important,’ James waved the question off unimportantly as they continued making their way up the school. He had never intended for anything to happen with the Ravenclaw. It wasn’t his fault if she decided to embrace herself into something that wasn’t there.

‘She looked pretty upset. Don’t you think you should have maybe gone after her and talked to her?’ Peter asked, accidentally tripping up slightly on one of the stairs.

‘No chance! It’s awkward enough as it is, besides, how am I supposed to know it was even me she was upset about? For all I know, her grandma could have died or something, it’s none of my business,’ James answered nonchalantly.

‘And here they say chivalry is dead,’ Remus said sarcastically under his breath.

‘There’s truth in that though, I mean, how do you even say hello in those kinds of situations?’ Sirius defended James, as he always did. When it came to girls, James and Sirius were more similar that James poribably realised.

‘Exactly! A handshake is too formal, a kiss on the cheek is too familiar,’ James proposed, as they stepped into the Common Room, James instantly grabbing them the sofa in front of the fire, the elite seats in the room.

‘And a hug is basically a public dry hump,’ Sirius stated, grinning, making the other three look at him incredulously.

‘I think you’re hugging wrong,’ Remus chuckled, biting down on a piece of chocolate.

‘Not quite where I was going with that, Pads, but cheers,’ James laughed. ‘I’ll put that down to your dog tendencies, you humping anything that moves.’

‘Don’t copy McKinnon’s jokes, Prongs, come on, you’re better than that,’ Sirius teased in response, trying to go for a bit of Remus’s chocolate, but the werewolf slapped his hand away and sent him a glare that screamed, _mine_.

‘Anyway, Moony, we actually need to talk to you anyway,’ James changed the topic of conversation to the werewolf, who currently had a large slab of chocolate in his mouth.

‘What?’ Remus asked, his voice muffled by the chocolate in his mouth, as he looked taken aback from the sudden focus on him.

‘We were thinking about how maybe, during the next full moon, we would be able to get you out of the cooped up building for a bit, get you roaming around,’ Peter announced the thoughts of the boys, watching as Remus’s face dropped to one of bitterness as he swallowed his mouthful of chocolate.

‘It’s an idea,’ Sirius said, resting his elbows on his thighs.

‘It’s a fucking terrible idea, is what it is,’ Remus argued, growing irritated at the situation. ‘It’s not only then dangerous for you, but for everyone in the castle. You haven’t thought this through.’

‘Do you not think your “wolfy self” would appreciate it if you had a bit of freedom?’ Peter asked with a hushed voice, reminding them to keep the conversation quiet. After all, they were still in the Common Room, anyone could enter.

‘It might make you a lot less aggressive, mate,’ Sirius offered carefully. Although Remus had grown used to them being there, he still had his many moments of aggression, particularly towards Sirius. Remus groaned at the points the boys were putting across.

He wasn’t angry at them for suggesting the idea, far from it. It was coming up to the full moon, hence his hankering for chocolate and he had a lot of pent up tension and frustration stored up inside himself, especially due to the addition of exam stress. Truthfully, he knew it would be good for him to get outside as a werewolf and run around the grounds and the Forest instead of being barricaded in the tiny, cramped building that was the Shrieking Shack with a stag, a dog, and a rat. But he couldn’t get past the fact that by being let out, he would be putting everyone in an immeasurable amount of danger, and he would never forgive himself if he ever hurt anyone. He couldn’t bring himself to break Dumbledore’s trust like that.

‘Besides, you’re friendly with us now, as a werewolf. You trust us, we can tell. We could get you roaming around the Forest in no time!’ James said enthusiastically.

‘Absolutely not,’ Remus said firmly, a finger tapping his leg impatiently. ‘I’m not allowing you to take on such a massive responsibility of controlling me. I won’t allow it.’

‘Just one night, Moony -’

‘No!’ Remus exclaimed, standing up suddenly out of annoyance for their persistence. ‘You are not putting yourself or anyone else in this fucking castle in any more danger! It’s bad enough you lot are out there with me, I should have never even allowed for _that_ in the fucking first place! It’s not happening,’ Remus swore and then stormed up the stairs that led to the boys dormitories, leaving the boys a little shocked at his outburst. Peter, especially, looked upset.

‘Don’t take it personally, Wormy. There’s a full moon coming up, he’s just feeling a little tense,’ James comforted Peter, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it for reassurance. Peter sent him a small smile.

‘I just wish there were some way we could convince him to let us help more,’ Peter replied sadly, resting his chin in his hands. James hummed in agreement.

‘I don’t think it’s just the full moon that’s got him agitated,’ Sirius pondered, his face fully of concern as he stared into the flames of the fire in front of him.

‘What are you saying?’ Peter asked, looking at Sirius expectantly.

‘I can’t quite say, ‘cause I don’t know. But it’s still a fair few days from the full moon, and he’s never normally _this_ worked up, even on the day of full moons. I feel like there’s something else going on that he’s not telling us,’ Sirius elaborated, looks of realisation passing James and Peter’s faces.

‘Poor blokes having a rough time,’ James exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck.

‘I wish he would just tell us, especially if it’s something serious,’ Sirius grumbled. ‘Reckon we should try and get it out of him? Coax him a bit?’

‘No,’ James said solidly, shaking his head. ‘He’ll come to us when he’s ready. He wouldn’t want us trying to force him to spill it out, he wouldn’t appreciate it.’

‘I think I’ll sneak down to Hogsmeade, get him some more of that chocolate he likes. If there’s anything that’s bound to cheer him up, it’s that,’ Sirius said, standing up and taking the Marauder’s Map and his wand out of his back pocket. ‘ _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_ ,’ he articulated, a wonder of red ink flourishing on the page.

‘Oh, can you pick me up some sugar quills on the way?’ James asked, sending Sirius some doe eyes, similar to Sirius’s puppy ones that always worked on everyone whenever he wanted them to.

‘I really should not be fuelling you eating in class habit, but _fine!_ ’ Sirius flailed his arms dramatically in faux exasperation. ‘Normal or deluxe?’

‘Is that even a question?’ James questioned teasingly in mock offence that Sirius even had to confirm his order.

‘Right, deluxe it is then, just casually draining my bank account. And all because he knows Evans likes them,’ Sirius muttered under his breath, heading out of the Tower.

The exam season at Hogwarts continued without a beat, some exams going better for folk, some worse. The four boys were always there to provide comic relief when required, an especially during the Potions practical with Professor Slughorn. Sirius, in particular, decided to stutter the poor Professor Slughorn by asking if the examination potion that they were brewing that day would be an acceptable substitute to use as a sexual lubricant. They had never seen Slughorn look more uncomfortable and instantly shy than that day. He ignored the question and managed to utter the words for them to start as he pressed his stopwatch.

‘I have _never_ seen so many red faces in one classroom!’ Remus spluttered with laughter once they left the practical exam, the fifth years filing out of the dungeons.

‘Peter’s was especially red,’ James cackled gleefully as Peter still looked rather shell shocked as he left the classroom, though whether from the residual stress of the exam or Sirius’s question, they weren’t sure.

‘You can’t just go around asking questions like that!’ Peter exclaimed, attempting to hide his blushing face from the other three.

‘Hey! If we don’t ask these questions, then who will? We are in a class full of young, vibrant teenagers. This is the sort of information we need to know!’ Sirius insisted, making his voice louder to ensure that all embarrassed fifth years could hear his excuse for such an eventful start to the exam.

‘Just use normal lube like the rest of us, Pads,’ James chuckled, rubbing a hand across his forehead from Sirius’s antics.

‘Gross. I don’t need to hear about your sexual habits. Keep it to yourself, mate,’ Sirius wrinkled his nose in contradiction, making James groan.

Lily had ended up having a rather unexpected and friendship fixing partner over the weeks that OWLs were taking place. Snape had joined her many a time in the Library, allowing for them to spend some secluded time together, away from prying and judging eyes. They had helped each other greatly with revision, and Lily had to admit that it definitely helped her exams go better. Their friendship was on the mend, and she felt great about it. She felt as though she had her best friend back, the kind, gentle and caring Severus she knew and wanted the world to see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I quite like this chapter, I have to say :) I reckon it provides quite a lot of comic relief from the more heavy stuff in the story, and I have never related more to exam stress than I am at this moment, woo!! I'm glad that I've written a fair few chapters in advance, because I'm just so mentally drained at the moment that writing is difficult :(  
> On a happier note, I watched Tangled last night, and I forgot how much I loved Flynn Rider. Turns out I had a crush on Sirius Black before I even knew I did ahaha :)  
> I hope you're all keeping well and, of course, living your best lives ;),  
> Love, Julia xx


	32. Snape's Worst Coeval

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I can't lie, pretty much this whole chapter belongs to JKR, minus the end and few embellishments along the way, but I'm just going to say that I take absolutely no credit for this and all that Fair Use Rights stuff, because I don't want to get sued, woo ;)

DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS

 _ORDINARY WIZARDING_ LEVEL

The eight words were stagnant at the top of his penultimate exam paper Snape had to sit. He was sat around the middle of the Great Hall at one of the many singular desks and chairs that embellished it during this time of the year. Exams were ending by giving Snape a rather stringy, pallid look about him, like a plant that had been kept in the dark. His hair was lank and greasy and was flopping onto the table, his hooked nose barely half an inch from the surface of the parchment as he scribbled.

Snape’s hand was flying across the parchment. He had written at least a foot more than his closest neighbours, and yet his writing was miniscule and cramped.

‘Five more minutes!’

The voice made Snape jump. Looking up for a split-second, he saw the top of Professor Flitwick’s head moving between the desks a short distance away. Professor Flitwick was walking past a boy with untidy black hair. Snape growled lightly.

James was now straightening up, putting down his quill, and pulling his roll of parchment towards him so he could read what he’d written. His hazel eyes scanned the page, glasses balanced on his nose. Over exams, his hair seemed to have grown more and more messy, sticking up at the back more than usual.

He yawned hugely and rumpled up his hair, making it even messier than it had been. Then, with a glance at Professor Flitwick, James turned in his seat and grinned at a boy sitting four seats behind him.

James saw Sirius return his grin with a thumbs up. Sirius was lounging on his chair with ease, tilting it back on its hind legs. Exams hadn’t rattled him much, he looked like his usual very good-looking, attractive, charming self, his dark hair style with ease, a sort of casual elegance about it that James could have never achieved. Behind him, James could see some Hufflepuff girl that he had never spoken to eyeing Sirius, though he didn’t seem to have either noticed or cared.

Two seats along from the girl, sat Remus. He looked rather pale and peaky (after all, the full moon had only just been and gone) and he was absorbed in the exam. As he reread his answers, he scratched his chin with the end of his quill, frowning slightly.

Peter, looking his usual small and mousy self, was looking anxious. He was chewing his fingernails, staring down at his paper, and scuffing the ground with his toes. Every now and then, he glanced hopefully at his neighbour’s paper, praying the Flitwick wouldn’t catch on to his tactics.

James, bored with waiting for the end of the exam, had busied himself with doodling a little Golden Snitch on the corner of his page. Once he’d finished his masterpiece, he moved on to start tracing the letter ‘L.E.’ onto the wood of the desk he was sitting at. He could already hear Sirius’s voice in his head, calling him pathetic.

‘Quills down, please!’ squeaked Professor Flitwick. ‘That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchment! _Accio!_ ’

Over a hundred rolls of parchment zoomed into the air and into Professor Flitwick’s outstretched arms, knocking him backwards off his feet. Several people laughed. A couple of students sitting at the front desks got up, took hold of Professor Flitwick beneath the elbows, and lifted him back onto his feet.

‘Thank you … thank you,’ panted Professor Flitwick. ‘Very well, everybody, you’re free to go!’

James hastily crossed out the ‘L.E.’ that he had spent the last few minutes embellishing. Once he’d removed any visible aspects of the initials, he jumped up and stuffed his quill and the exam question paper into his bag, which he slung over his back. He stood, waiting for Sirius to join him.

A gang of chattering girls separated Snape from James, Sirius, and Remus, which he was glad about. Snape moved between the tables towards the doors to the Entrance Hall, still absorbed in the exam paper. Round-shouldered yet angular, he walked in a twitchy manner that recalled a spider, his oily hair jumping about his face.

‘Did you like question ten, Moony?’ Sirius asked as they emerged into the Entrance Hall.

‘Loved it,’ Remus said briskly. ‘ _Give five signs that identify the werewolf._ Excellent question.’

‘D’you think you managed to get all the signs?’ James quizzed in tones of mock concern.

‘Think I did,’ Remus said seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors eager to get out into the sunlit grounds. ‘One: he’s sitting in my chair. Two: he’s wearing my clothes. Three: his name’s Remus Lupin.’

Peter was the only one who didn’t laugh at Remus’s satire.

‘I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail,’ he said anxiously, ‘but I couldn’t think what else -’

‘How thick are you, Wormtail?’ James interrupted impatiently. ‘You run round with a werewolf once and month -‘

‘Keep your voice down,’ Remus implored.

Snape remained buried in his exam paper questions, still relatively close to the boys, closer than he would have liked to be if he were paying any attention. James and the others strode off down the lawn towards the Lake, Snape following, still poring over the exam paper with seemingly no fixed idea of where he was going.

‘Well, I thought the paper was a piece of cake,’ Sirius said. ‘I’ll be surprised if I don’t get an “Outstanding” on it at least.’

‘Me too,’ James said casually. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a struggling Golden Snitch.

‘You know, you still haven’t told us where you go that?’

‘It’s from when I won my first ever Quidditch match, the Captain gave it to me,’ James replied casually. He started playing with the Snitch, allowing it to fly as much as a foot away before seizing it again. His reflexes were excellent. Peter watched him in awe, he always did whenever James would mess around with the Snitch.

They stopped in the shade of the very same beech tree on the edge of the Lake where they had sent the Giant Squid to attack Snape under. They threw themselves down on the grass. Snape had settled himself on the grass in the dense shadow of a clump of bushes. He was as deeply immersed in the OWL paper as ever. The sunlight was dazzlingly smooth on the surface of the Lake, on the bank of which the group of girls who had just left the Great Hall were sitting with their shoes and socks off, cooling their feet in the water.

Remus had pulled out a book and was reading. Sirius stared around the students milling over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so. James was still playing with the Snitch, letting it zoom further and further away, almost escaping but always grabbing it at the last second. Peter was still watching him, with his mouth wide open. Every time James made a particularly difficult catch, Peter gasped and his legs, which he was sitting crossed over on, would raise him a couple of inches into the air. Although James knew that he should tell Peter to get a grip of himself, he was quite enjoying the attention.

James rumpled his hair up a little as he let the Snitch go again. He never liked it when it started looking too tidy, he enjoyed the messy look. His eyes kept flicking over to the girls by the water’s edge, one in particular with red hair catching his attention.

‘Put that away, will you,’ Sirius said finally, as James made a fine catch, making Peter very visibly delighted, ‘before Wormtail wets himself with excitement.

Peter turned slightly pink, but James grinned.

‘If it bothers you,’ he said, stuffing the snitch back in his pocket. Sirius was one of the only people who could get and for whom James would stop showing off.

‘I’m bored,’ Sirius chimed. ‘Wish it was a full moon.’

‘You might,’ Remus said darkly from behind his book. ‘We’ve still got Transfiguration, if you’re bored you could test me. Here …’ and he held out his book.

Sirius snorted. ‘I don’t need to look at that shite, I know it all.’

‘This’ll liven you up, Padfoot,’ James said quietly. ‘Look who it is …’

Sirius’s head turned. He became very still, like a dog that had scented a rabbit.

‘Excellent,’ he said softly. ‘ _Snivellus_.’

Snape was on his feet again and was stowing the OWL paper in his bag. As he left the shadows of the bushes and set off across the grass, Sirius and James stood up.

Remus and Peter remained sitting. Remus was still staring down at his book, though his eyes were not moving, and a faint frown line had appeared between his eyebrows. Peter was looking from Sirius and James to Snape with a look of avid anticipation on his face.

‘All right, Snivellus?’ James said loudly.

Snape reacted so fast it was as though he had been expecting an attack. Dropping his bag, he plunged his hand inside his robes and his wand was halfway into the air when James shouted, ‘ _Expelliarmus!_ ’

Snape’s wand flew twelve feet into the air and fell with a little thud on the grass behind him. Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

‘ _Impedimenta!_ ’ he said, pointing his wand at Snape, who was knocked off his feet halfway through a dive for his own fallen wand.

Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained.

Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised, James glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water’s edge as he went. Peter was now on his feet, watching hungrily, edging around Remus to get a clearer view.

‘How’d the exam go, Snivelly?’ James asked mockingly.

‘I was watching him, his nose touching the parchment,’ Sirius said viciously. ‘There’ll be grease marks all over it, they won’t be able to read a word.’

Several people watching laughed. Snape was very unpopular, especially without the group of Slytherin’s that he tended to hang out with. He had noticed that the more he hung out with them, the less people poked fun at him and so over fifth year, he had made it a plan to hang around with them more often. They more or less accepted him, and it meant he had a form of armour.

Peter sniggered shrilly at the scene. Snape was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him. He was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes.

‘You - wait,’ he panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, ‘you - wait!’

‘Wait for what?’ Sirius said coolly. ‘What’re you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?’

Snape let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away, nothing happened.

‘Wash your mouth out,’ James said coldly. ‘ _Scourgify!’_

Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once. Froth covered his lips, making him gag, choking him.

‘Leave him ALONE!’

James and Sirius looked round. James’s free hand immediately jumped to his hair.

It was Lily, she had walked over from the Lake edge. Her thick, dark red hair fell past her shoulders as she marched briskly, her bright green, almond-shaped eyes startled.

‘Alright, Evans?’ asked James, the tone of his voice suddenly pleasant, deeper, and more mature.

‘Leave him alone,’ Lily repeated. She was looking at James with every sign of dislike. ‘What’s he done to you?’

‘Well,’ James said, appearing to deliberate the point, ‘it’s more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean …’

Many surrounding students laughed, Sirius and Peter included. Remus didn’t, nor did Lily. Remus appeared to still be intent on his book. He wasn’t enjoying what was happening. He didn’t mind a few pranks here and there, but this, this was pure, unadulterated bullying. He didn’t like this side of James and Sirius. It was too much, cruel.

‘You think you’re funny,’ Lily said coldly. ‘But you’re just and arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him _alone_.’

‘I will if you go out with me, Evans,’ James said quickly. ‘Go on … go out with me and I’ll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again.’

Behind him, the Impediment Jinx was wearing off. Snape was beginning to inch towards his fallen wand, spitting out soapsuds as he crawled.

‘I wouldn’t go out with you if it was a choice between you and the Giant Squid,’ Lily said.

‘Bad luck, Prongs,’ Sirius chuckled briskly, and turned back to Snape. ‘OI!’

It was too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James. There was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James’s face, spattering his robes with blood. James whirled about. A second flash of light later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and pair of greying underpants.

Many people in the small crowd cheered, needless to say, it was not made up of Slytherin’s. Sirius, James, and Peter roared with laughter.

Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, ‘Let him down!’

‘Certainly,’ said James and he jerked his wand upwards. Snape fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Disentangling himself from his robes, he got quickly to his feet, wand up, but Sirius said ‘ _Petrificus Totalus!’_ and snape keeled over again, rigid as a board.

‘LEAVE HIM ALONE!’ Lily yelled. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily.

‘Ah, Evans, don’t make me hex you,’ James said earnestly.

‘Take the curse off him, then!’

James sighed deeply, then turned to Snape and muttered the counter-curse.

‘There you go,’ he said as Snape struggled to his feet. ‘You’re lucky Evans was here, Snivellus -’

‘I don’t need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!’

Their air turned cold, bitter. The cheering from the side-lines had stopped. It was as though time had stopped for a second, the world stopped turning.

Lily blinked.

‘Fine,’ she said coolly. ‘I won’t bother in the future. And I’d wash your pants if I were you, _Snivellus_.’

‘Apologise to Evans!’ James roared at Snape, his wand pointed threateningly at him.

‘I don’t want _you_ to make him apologise,’ Lily shouted, rounding on James. ‘You’re as bad as he is.’

‘What?’ James yelped. ‘I’d NEVER call you a - you-know-what!’

‘Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I’m surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.’

Lily turned on her heel and hurried away up to the castle.

‘Evans!’ James shouted after her. ‘Hey, EVANS!’

But she didn’t look back.

‘What is with her?’ James asked, more to himself that anyone while trying and failing to look as though it was a throwaway question of no real importance to him.

‘Reading between the lines, I’d say she thinks you’re a bit conceited, mate,’ Sirius said.

‘Right,’ James said, looking furious now, right -’

There was another flash of light and Snape was once again hanging upside down in the air.

‘Who wants to see me take off Snivelly’s pants?’

James, however, never got the chance to do as his rage desired. He felt a hand encircle his upper arm and roughly pull him away from the scene. Whoever it was had an iron grip, one that was used to keeping its body stable on a broomstick.

‘Enough,’ growled the voice of Marlene McKinnon in his ear. James didn’t think he had ever heard her sound quite as enraged as she did right now. He noticed the she was dragging him down the path to the Quidditch pitch, still quite dazed from everything that had just happened.

‘What the _fuck!_ ’ he moaned once the two of them had reached the Quidditch changing rooms. Marlene had thrown him to the other wall, and he clutched his upper arm, which he was pretty sure would now be bruised from her intense grip on him.

‘You’re a bastard and a half, James Potter,’ Marlene glowered, glaring at him in a way that James had never seen before.

‘What the fuck is your problem?’ James yelled, throwing daggers back at her. He wasn’t really angry at her. He was angry and Lily, at Snape, at himself.

‘I have watched you do some nasty fucking shit in your time, but this was by far one of the worst!’ Marlene roared at him, beginning to pace the small area they were standing in James rolled his eyes.

‘He had it coming.’

‘And you know what the worst part is?’ Marlene exasperated. ‘I defended you! To her! To Lily! I said you were fucking growing up, that you were a good person, that you’re not as bad as it comes across! What the _fuck_ were you thinking! How _dare_ you treat someone like that! No matter who it is, nobody deserves that, especially not at school. I don’t like Snape any more than you do, James, but that was a new low.’

James swallowed aggressively. ‘Really? _That_ was a new low. Did you see what he did to my face?’ James yelled, pointing at the fresh scar that Snape himself adorned on him. ‘And you’re here trying to lecture me on how Snivellus didn’t deserve what he got!’

‘I don’t care what Snape done to you, it’s down to you to rise above his ways and be the bigger person, it always is! What you did there today, James, it was disgusting, unforgivable! The guy couldn’t _breathe!_ ’ Marlene enunciated, her horror at the entire situation clear as day in front of James.

‘Oh please, everyone knows what we’re like, it was just a bit of a laugh. Then Evans came over and made it all serious when she didn’t have to, it was ridiculous! It’s not my fault that Snivellus got a bit emotional,’ James tutted, rolling his eyes again at Marlene’s words.

‘I don’t care how you end up wanting to spin this, what you did was _wrong_. If you think that what you did there wasn’t on the level of what those Slytherin’s did to Mary Macdonald, then you’re delusional!’ Marlene looked at him in disgust.

‘Don’t even do that. Do not compare me to that lowlife scum, I am nowhere near as bad as that,’ James spat in retaliation, his heart beating a million miles an hour.

‘James … you’re just as bad as they are, you are. I’m an idiot to not see what a bully you are, after all that Lily has told me. Believe what you want. I’ve seen something in you today that I didn’t think existed,’ Marlene finally spoke softly, looking at James with despair and disappointment.

She turned around and left, James didn’t try to stop her. He was angry and frustrated, and he didn’t know what to do with himself. He clamped his hand into a fist and furiously punched the wall, causing it to dent, scraping his knuckles.

He knew Marlene was right to an extent. What he’d done was horrible and uncalled for, a bit of entertainment. From the two girls he cared the opinion of, he had received screams from. He didn’t know where to go from here. Surely the only way was up. But he’d never apologise to Snape. Never.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always wanted to know people's opinions on this scene so please go crazy in the comments! I've always felt that Lily's turn on Snape and calling him "Snivellus" was a bit premature, but I love it as a whole :) I think that in such a short space of time, JKR managed to portray the characters of the Marauders so well, we really got to understand their personalities.   
> On another note, if any of you are British, like me, you'll know the absolute shambles that all the governments in the UK are causing with exam results, so I'm going to give a quick little rant here, after all, we're talking about OWLs ;). How exam boards think its okay to judge individual pupils by the past performances of a school, is beyond me. The lot of them should be bloody flung out on their arse. I truly wish everyone who is trying to get the grades to get into their uni of choice all the luck in the world, because you deserve it.  
> Love, Julia xx


	33. The Beginning

‘THE WINNERS OF THE 1976 QUIDDITCH HOUSE CUP ARE GRYFFINDOR!’ the student doing the voiceover yelled over the megaphone as on the stands, Gryffindor House erupted into cheers and hollers of delight and excitement, the Gryffindor Quidditch team swooped around the pitch in a lap of honour, the Snitch clutched in Marlene’s hand as she brandished it above her head.

In their scarlet and gold colours, the students of Gryffindor ran out onto the pitch to congratulate their landing Quidditch team. Rumsfeld started running his second lap of honour in glee, ecstatic that he managed to win the House Cup in his final year of Hogwarts and as Captain.

Madam Hooch started making her way out onto the pitch, carrying the mammoth silver cup, embellished with the Hogwarts crest and two broomsticks crossed over each other. Matt Fleetwood managed to drag Rumsfeld over by the hood of his Quidditch robes to grasp his attention and accept the trophy. Rumsfeld, looking as if he was about to cry, clutched Madam Hooch’s dainty hand in in his gigantic one with joy, thanking her, before cradling the Cup.

The boys of the team went under Rumsfeld and lifted him up, gliding him across the crowds, praising him. The Hufflepuff team were strong and had certainly given the Gryffindor’s a run for their money, but they were going to have to work a lot harder if the Gryffindor’s were to give up their winning streak. After an intense match, the lions came out victorious, the Hufflepuff’s graciously shaking hands with them in congratulations and commiserations. There wasn’t a better way for Rumsfeld and Fleetwood to finish their time at Hogwarts.

With their hearts high, the Gryffindor Quidditch team didn’t bother heading to the changing rooms to shower and get out of the sweaty sports robes. Instead, they headed straight to Gryffindor Tower, House Cup in tow, to instantly start the winner’s party. As they marched throughout the castle, chants were sung with happiness. Rumsfeld got carried the whole way to the seventh floor as he kissed the trophy, his brazen Irish accent louder than everyone else’s in the crowd.

Somehow, the gramophone was already playing as they all entered the Common Room, and people began dancing in high spirits almost instantly, others pushing the tables that littered the room against the walls to create more space. Everyone knew the party was going to dive deep into the night with no end in sight. It was a brilliant end to the Gryffindor’s school year.

Lily couldn’t say she was enjoying herself. She was ecstatic for Marlene with the Gryffindor win, but recent events hung over her like a heavy cloud, following her wherever she went. Deciding to not spoil other people’s mood of the party, she buried herself in one of the armchairs that had been pushed into a corner with a beer bottle in her hand, hoping it would ease some of the pain of losing her best friend. She couldn’t forgive Severus. Not after he’d called her _that_ , something he swore he was incapable of doing. It wasn’t like he wasn’t thinking it the whole time as well. None of his Slytherin cronies were there to hear him and be impressed. He’d meant what he said.

She scanned the party, her gaze catching on her friends enjoying themselves. Alice was dancing with Frank, who was twirling her around and catching her already tipsy tumbles. Lily couldn’t deny that they made her giggle. Dorcas was stood next to Remus and the boys Lily preferred not to name at this moment in time. Marlene was chatting with Rumsfeld and Fleetwood, along with some other seventh years and who Lily could swear was the Head Boy, but he was in Ravenclaw, so it was an unlikely assumption.

‘Feeling lonely in a crowded room?’ a deep voice broke Lily out of her trance and she looked to her right to see Gideon sitting down beside her. A smile, instantly and involuntarily, appeared on her face as he settled himself down with a glass of what looked like Firewhisky.

‘Just not particularly in the mood for a party,’ Lily admitted as she spun the beer bottle in her hand. She had a habit, when she was nervous, of scratching labels off of things. This was one of those times.

‘I kind of feel you tonight on that. Emmeline is desperate to get me up and dance, but I’m really not a dancer. I’d end up sending her to the Hospital Wing with several broken toes,’ Gideon laughed at his self-deprecation. Lily’s smile faltered slightly at Gideon’s unfailing ability to slip Emmeline into conversation. She felt dreadful for thinking like that.

‘How’s it going with you and Em?’ Lily forced herself to ask brightly as she pushed her own reservations about the couple aside. Who was she to judge what worked and didn’t work for others? If Gideon didn’t mind that Emmeline liked to openly speak about other guys, that was his own decision.

He nodded enthusiastically. ‘Really good, I think. She’s a bit of a whirlwind, really, she can be hard to keep up with. I quite like it, though, keeps me on my toes. I’d rather that than be bored,’ Gideon said optimistically.

‘It’s probably why Em and Marls have always butted heads,’ Lily stated, thinking back to the many times the blonde and the brunette had snapped at each other. ‘Two hurricanes crashing there.’

‘There is never a dull moment with either of them around,’ Gideon agreed with a chuckle. ‘It’s probably safer to allow those two to keep a distance from each other, they could run circles around everyone. Half the time I feel like I’m running a marathon with Emmeline, trying to keep up.’

‘Doesn’t that get a bit tiring?’ Lily questioned, a bit too quickly for even her liking.

‘No, I enjoy it,’ Gideon shook his head. ‘And if I ever feel like I need to slow down, I tell her, and she goes with me. I can’t tell if she always likes it that I need a breather, but she always listens.’

‘Sounds like you two are strong, then,’ Lily said with a slight pang in her chest. It had been strange watching Gideon’s relationship flourish, she had never taken Emmeline as a relationship sort of girl.

‘Yeah, we are. Or at least I hope so. She’s not one for talking about the relationship much, she’s more one for actions. Last Hogsmeade trip, I took her to Madam Puddifoot’s, and she seemed to really enjoy it. It wasn’t my sort of thing at all, but as long as she’s happy, I’m happy,’ Gideon smiled, meeting Lily’s green eyes. Lily couldn’t help but admire his soft chocolate brown ores. She could melt in them like butter.

‘That’s romantic,’ she whispered smoothly. ‘Not so much the Madam Puddifoot’s part, honestly, that sounds like my nightmare for a date, but how you talk about her. It’s really sweet,’ Lily told him, as Gideon waved off the compliment bashfully.

‘You two look cosy,’ Emmeline said in a sickly tone as she joined the conversation and plopped herself in Gideon’s lap. She gave him a peck on the lips and then grinned at Lily, which she returned. Lily saw that Emmeline’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes as they observed her.

‘We were just discussing the last date you and I went on. And your little spats with Marls,’ Gideon chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Emmeline’s waist and kissed her neck. Emmeline snuggled into him, making Lily feel very single and the ultimate third wheel.

‘Oh, yeah, that was a cute date,’ Lily couldn’t help but notice how flippantly Emmeline spoke. ‘And Marls and I don’t spat, we’re _really_ good friends, we just differ in opinions!’

Lily fought the urge to snort. She knew that Emmeline was always teetering on the edge of Marlene being unable to stand her. She was too girlish and too gossipy for Marlene’s preferences. The blonde liked to keep to herself, which was the complete opposite of what Emmeline was. Emmeline was loud and an open book, while Marlene liked to remain far more mysterious. Lily made a mental note that she had to make Marlene watch _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_ with her over the summer, introduce her to Audrey Hepburn.

‘Wouldn’t you agree that Marls and I are practically best friends, Lils?’ Emmeline asked, as if almost challenging Lily to disagree with her. The redhead was finding the interaction rather comical.

‘Yes, of course,’ Lily agreed with a slight smirk, leaning back in her chair, now partially ignoring the couple to her right. She’d become quite skilled at blocking them out. If she was to focus on them, she knew she’d get far to upset about Gideon.

Much of the animosity between Emmeline and Marlene, however, definitely came from Emmeline’s side. Lily knew that Emmeline had never really like the fact that Marlene had a way with guys yet seemed completely uninterested in practically every one of them, something Emmeline couldn’t understand. Emmeline valued every bit of attention she got and glorified it, but Marlene always seemed to attract more, yet do nothing with it.

‘Remember that time Marls and I had that competition to see who could brew the stronger love potion in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. Marls won, but she ended up getting me flowers anyway! We joked that she was actually trying to charm me, remember Lily?’ Emmeline asked forcefully, daring Lily to disagree with her.

 _Yes, but Marlene never used her love potion on certain boys,_ Lily thought to herself with a smirk.

‘Yes, it was quite a funny day,’ Lily agreed, thinking about how Marlene poured the contents of her potion down the U-bend of the toilet, while Emmeline stored hers away in secret.

A lightbulb flashed in Lily’s head. 

They were both stunning girls, Lily wasn’t going to deny that, but Marlene had a certain charm about her that Emmeline seemed to lack. It was probably why Sirius Black had always shown quite a bit of interest in Marlene. He found her intriguing, and Emmeline hated it. Lily wasn’t an idiot, she could see Sirius had a soft spot for her best friend and it drove Emmeline mad, the fact that, arguably, the most attractive boy at Hogwarts paid more attention to her rival than her. Guiltily, Lily was glad he did. Marlene wasn’t the exploitative type.

At the other side of the room, the Marauders were keeping Dorcas entertained with their antics and banter. James and Sirius were still clad in their Quidditch robes, gearing up quite the number of female attention, which both of them were gloating in. There was nothing more attractive to most girls than a just off the pitch Quidditch player.

‘C’mon, Cas, help me out! I know she’s talking to me, but I feel like she’s still fuming at me,’ James begged Dorcas to give him insider information about Marlene. The two had been civil after their blow up about Snape, but it hadn’t quite gone back to the way it was before yet. Marlene was treating him with an air of coldness, one that he despised.

‘Fucking hell, grow a pair and man up, Prongs! You two are brother and sister, you just had a fight, that’s all,’ Sirius snapped at James’s complaining, taking a swig of his drink.

‘James, I honestly couldn’t tell you, the girl is a closed book. Ask her yourself!’ Dorcas replied, chuckling at the scowl James was currently throwing Sirius’s way.

‘If she hates me, it’s just going to be awkward,’ James muttered falling back to lean against the wall.

‘Got to go, girl incoming,’ Sirius smirked, his eyes locked on a blonde that had been staring and giggling to him for the past half hour. He chugged the rest of his drink and saluted himself out.

‘Gross,’ Dorcas wrinkled her nose at Sirius before returning to James. ‘Just go _talk_ to her, she’s right over there!’

‘Ugh, fine, I’m going, I’m going,’ James rolled his eyes and stomped off to find Marlene, Peter at his heels to keep the peace in case the two siblings got heated.

Remus took up James’s previous position on the wall, facing Dorcas.

‘You should go work at Wizengamot once we finish with this place,’ Remus smirked over the edge of his cup at Dorcas before he took a sip. Wizengamot was wizarding Britain’s high court of law and parliament.

Dorcas shook her head with amusement. ‘You couldn’t _pay_ me to wear those robes, no chance,’ she chuckled.

‘You do a damn good job of convincing James without trying, though, that’s a task and a half to try and complete,’ Remus praised her as they both glanced at James and Marlene at the other end of the room, talking. Marlene seemed open enough and James seemed to be grovelling more than they’d ever seen him.

‘He had already convinced himself that he was going to apologise his ass off to Marlene, he just needed a little push to take the first step,’ Dorcas looked back at Remus, eyes twinkling. ‘Sirius could have easily done that.’

‘I’m surprised you’re so casual with us after what happened with Snape. You and Alice have stayed quite lovely to us,’ Remus followed up the topic, raising his eyebrows slightly at the brunette in front of him.

She looked very pretty. She still looked windswept from her time in the Quidditch stands, a few stray hairs framing her face, light freckles scattering her face. The toll exams had taken on her didn’t show in her face as she smiled up at him. He could kiss her. He wanted to kiss her.

‘Don’t get me wrong, what James and Sirius did was disgusting, and yes, it was unprovoked in the moment, but in general, it was provoked. Snape does love to rub it in James’s face that he’s friends with Lily. I won’t deny that what James did was bullying, though,’ Dorcas explained. She sounded fair, but Remus couldn’t say he fully agreed with her.

‘Fair enough. You’re more understanding than most of us, Ace,’ Remus said truthfully. He didn’t think Dorcas was possible of holding a grudge against many people, for many reasons. But she was strong. She wasn’t a doormat.

‘It’s weird isn’t it? Finishing fifth year. It always seems so far off when you start in fifth year. Before you know it, we’ll be sitting NEWTs and then we’re out in the world. We have two more years left. It just feels like it’s going insanely quickly,’ Dorcas changed the subject, a dreamy look crossing her face, thoughts of the years ahead swirling in her mind.

‘Does it scare you?’

‘A little. But, I’m looking forward. I think the only reason there’s a bit of fear is because it’s different, and Hogwarts is all we’ve ever known. We’re kept in one hell of a bubble,’ Dorcas replied. Remus couldn’t help but admire her as she spoke her mind.

‘Guess all we can do is enjoy it, really. When there’s no exams to stress about obviously,’ Remus chortled. Aspiring Aurors and Unspeakables had a lot of work to do to get where they wanted to be.

‘Ah, sixth year! No exams other than shitty little class tests. Sounds like a dream,’ Dorcas cheered, clinking her glass with Remus’s as they drank to free periods.

The morning where everyone went home for the summer holidays was always rather chaotic. There were trunks with silver and gold stamped initials scattered across the castle, some in very bizarre places. Cages enclosing owls, cats, toads, and the occasional illegal animal made the castle seem like a zoo in some areas. The Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were always very happy that they didn’t have to carry their trunks from the seventh floor down to the train. In the end, they were only responsible for their rucksacks.

While everyone was heading for the late brunch that was always available on the last day, Regulus wasn’t feeling very hungry, despite his love for the Hogwarts waffles. He remained in the Slytherin Common Room on one of the leather couches, playing with a Remembrall that he found lying around the Common Room. The smoke in the glass ball remained a white cloud as he held it, upholding the theory that Regulus’s memory was very good.

Dressed in jeans and a simple t-shirt, Regulus suddenly stood up, marching his way out of the dungeons. He double-stepped his way up the deserted stairs of the school, reaching the third floor. Breathing through his nose, heavily, he walked towards a certain door and pushed through it, leaping up the stairs that led to the office of that teacher’s classroom.

He stood in the doorway of Lola Sallow’s office that looked significantly emptier than it had the whole year. The floating cauldrons no longer decorated the ceiling and the office looked bare without them. Regulus had been in and out of the office so many times that year, he had become very accustomed to them.

In the middle of the room, stood a stack of light brown trunks and a few briefcases. He frowned at the state of the room and looked further past them to where the desk stood. Sallow was behind it, her eyes scanning some form of paperwork.

‘You’re leaving?’ Regulus blurted out, unlike his usual, calculated self.

Sallow looked up. ‘Yes. I only agreed to stay here for a year, and I keep to my word,’ she replied neatly, folding over the paperwork.

‘No other reason?’ Regulus said, somewhat maliciously. Sallow smirked.

‘What are you trying to accuse me of, Mr Black?’ she asked, keeping her tone professional, but the amusement was clear. Regulus hated how she laughed at him.

‘No, I’m just surprised. I assumed you would’ve stayed on.’

‘I came to Hogwarts under irregular circumstances. I can’t say I particularly wanted to teach, or that it’s my strong point,’ Sallow said, her eyes scanning the fifteen year old boy in front of her. ‘Why, would you like me to stay on?’

Regulus snorted rudely. ‘No.’

‘Then why did you come up here?’

Regulus sighed, his eyes feeling tired. He had felt tired a lot over the past year. He wasn’t looking forward to going back home, to number twelve, Grimmauld Place. It was dark, dreary, and depressing, and no one in the house got along. His mother would screech all day, his father and Sirius would lock themselves away when they weren’t spitting insults at each other, and Regulus was left alone. He didn’t want to go back to seeing sparks of hexes and jinxes being thrown at his brother.

‘I don’t know.’

‘You’re dreading going home,’ Sallow stated as though she could read Regulus’s mind. Perhaps she could, he couldn’t be sure.

‘I’m not ecstatic about it, no,’ Regulus muttered.

‘It’s about to get better, Mr Black,’ Sallow said, her expression calm. Regulus furrowed his brows at her.

‘How do you know?’ the younger brother asked suspiciously, unwilling to believe the professor stood in front of him.

‘There’s going to be a time, where people will need to decide what side they want to be on. You, Mr Black, by birth right, are on the right side. The world’s going to change, for the better. You’ll be someone we’ll be proud to have on side,’ Sallow spoke slowly, walking around her desk to move closer to him.

‘Don’t talk in riddles,’ Regulus said, exhausted from the many unanswered questions. Sallow smiled.

‘I’m not. I’m telling you stuff that you’ll find helpful. Big things are going to start happening. You wanted to know why I disappeared before I arrived here? You’ll find out soon enough. I’m proud of our progress this year, Mr Black. You’re going to do wonderful things,’ Sallow worded kindly to him, but her words only made Regulus more confused.

‘I still don’t know what you’re talking about, or what you mean!’ Regulus exasperated, frustrated at all the things different people were saying to him lately. He was tired of the whispers.

‘You’ll get answers soon, I promise. Everything will make sense, and you’ll be one of the first to know,’ Sallow promise him, her eye contact intense.

‘And how do you know about all this?’ Regulus questioned, sick of making speculations about what plans were apparently going on with certain members of the wizarding community.

‘I can’t say much more, other than all will become clear. We’ll meet again in the future, sooner rather than later. I look forward to the day. Until then, goodbye, Regulus,’ Sallow said, waving her wand to shut the last lid of one of her trunks. She then grabbed one of the briefcases and strutted out of the office, leaving the door open and Regulus, behind her.

Regulus felt a lodge in his throat at the words of his now late professor. She seemed strong, positive in the words she was saying. He felt like he had somehow been vexed into a dodgy business deal that he hadn’t agreed to in the first place. Sallow made it sound as though he was about to be in the front lines of something, though what, he didn’t know.

He exited the classroom and headed to the Great Hall to grab some last breakfast scraps before the long train journey home. His brain felt fuzzy and he couldn’t think. His conversation with Sallow, it felt like the beginning of something. The beginning of something that felt like it could change his life, but whether it was for the better or for the worse, Regulus wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovelies :)  
> So we've reached the end of fifth year, did anyone think this day would ever come? :) I've enjoyed writing this fic so much so far and to complete an entire year truly feels insane. I'm so excited for the following years at Hogwarts and all I have planned, and I hope that you''l all enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!  
> I can't lie, we've still got a long way to go with this story, but I can't wait for every second of it. I'm proud of what I've managed to write so far and all your lovely comments and kudos and any other forms of support have truly meant the world to me. I never thought I'd be brave enough to actually start uploading all my ideas, but now i have, it's one of the best things I've done. You are truly all such kind wonderful people, and I can't even explain to you how blessed I feel to have you all here, along for the ride with me :)  
> All my love, Julia xx


	34. An Unfavourable Boyfriend

The past two weeks had been the worst of Lily’s life. She had spent them wallowing in every way imaginable, incapable of bringing herself to do anything. There was a mountain of unopened letters from her friends piled up along her desk. Her curtains hadn’t been open since she could remember, and she hadn’t left the house since what it felt like the start of summer. Her skin was ghostly pale, as though it hadn’t seen the sun in years, deep purple bags underneath her eyes.

Lily’s father, Gregory Evans, passed away two weeks ago. Lung cancer. It was one of those moments when Lily deeply resented magic for the infrequent limitations it brought to her life. Even magic wasn’t able to cure her father. She had researched it in the Library at school, but it had been no use. Wizards hadn’t found a way to fix the uncontrollable division of cells.

She hadn’t been able to sleep or eat. She was exhausted with everything that had happened over the past year. She had lost friends, watched her friend go off with the guy she liked and now, she had lost her dad. The one that made her feel special, the one that comforted her during everything. He clapped whenever she was little and would turn a teacup into a rat for amusement. Now, the one person she needed to comfort her in such painstaking grief was gone.

Lily was curled up in her father’s armchair, the one he’d sit in ever since she could remember and smoke his cigars. Those goddamn cigars. He would scoop her up as a small child and place her on his lap, allowing her to snuggle into him. She now snuggled into the soft material of the armchair instead, breathing in the warming smell of his cigars that had sunk in the chairs.

The smell was now bittersweet. It brought Lily so much nostalgia, but they were the ultimate pesky habit that killed him. She felt hot tears well up behind her eyes. She had cried a lot since returning from Hogwarts.

She hadn’t even been told that her father was in the hospital until she returned from school. It had been rather odd that it was only her mum who had arrived to pick her up from the train. It was even more confusing when her mother greeted her with the most solemn expression Lily had seen on her face in a long while.

On the drive home, her mother told her everything. Gregory, the month before, had been rushed to hospital as he started coughing up excessive amounts of blood. He had been bed bound ever since.

They had dropped Lily’s trunk and other items off at home before instantly rushing to the hospital to visit Gregory. When she saw her father in that hospital, Lily finally understood what people meant when they said time stood still. If there was any way to slow down time, it was to see a loved one in the state that Gregory Evans was in.

One of the first things Lily noticed was that he’d lost a lot of weight. His bones jutted out of his skin and his eyes were sunken in, looking very unlike himself. Lily cursed herself for not being at home, for not being by his side every second she could. She had lost so much time with her dear father just because she had been at school.

She whispered his name to wake him up as she drew nearer to him. Her breath hitched as she saw the amount of tubes and liquids entering and exiting her father, probably keeping him alive. Sleepily, he opened his eyes and saw the same red hair on his daughter’s head that used to grace his own. He involuntarily mustered up a grin when he acknowledged who was there.

‘Lily!’ he whispered weakly, raising his arms for Lily to fall into his arms. She could only bring herself to lightly hug him, not wanting to cause him any additional physical pain.

‘Hi Dad,’ Lily whispered back, clutching his hand in hers. She was doing her best to prevent her throat from closing up and tears from falling. Her dad didn’t need that. She need to be strong, for him.

She told her dad about all the amazing things she’d been able to do at Hogwarts that year, desperate to show him she was happy. That’s all he cared about. She skipped all the parts about Snape and the other misfortunes. They seemed so small and stupid now. Her father was wasting away in front of her eyes. She wasn’t going to dwell on any grudges she currently had for another second.

She decided not to ask why her elder sister wasn’t there in fear of upsetting him. Over the remainder of his life, Lily visited every day without fail, bringing him the hard boiled sweets they loved so much, reading to him. Most of all they talked. The spoke of nothing and everything. And then she watched him die. His eyes closed and never opened again.

The funeral was probably lovely for what it was, but it was one of the worst days of Lily’s life. Her father had picked her to do the eulogy, but she could barely get through it without choking on her own tears. She couldn’t understand how a cold ceremony like that was supposed to give anyone closure. She wanted her father back, not watch him be lowered into the ground.

She sat in her armchair, a mug of tea in her hand. Her mother barely left her bed since Gregory’s death. His death set a deep air of grief over the Evans household. The only one who didn’t seem to be as bothered as the rest was Petunia. Lily deeply resented her for it. Over the days Lily had been to see her father, Petunia had been a total of twice, neither time staying over two hours. With Lily, on the other hand, the nurses had to physically escort her out at the end of visiting hours. Lily would have slept there if she could.

She had barely stepped out of pyjamas over the past two weeks, only changing to fresh ones when she felt truly grim in the ones she had on. Today had been a change of pyjamas day. She pressed herself deeper into the armchair, wrapping her dressing gown tighter around her.

‘You look disgusting,’ she heard Petunia’s high-pitched voice enter the room. Lily didn’t even have the energy to roll her eyes at the comment.

She stayed silent, hoping for the presence of her father to protect her against Petunia’s scathing words.

‘I certainly hope you’ll be able to make yourself look somewhat presentable for tonight,’ Petunia spat out, causing a frown to arise of Lily’s tear stained face. She turned around slightly to be able to see her sister of the back of the armchair. Petunia was applying lipstick, admiring herself in a small compact mirror.

‘What are you talking about?’ Lily questioned tiredly. Petunia sighed deeply in annoyance and snapped the mirror shut. The sound seemed deafening to Lily, who had spent that last few weeks in a fuzzy state of mind.

‘Mother didn’t tell you?’ Petunia asked spikily. She groaned in frustration as Lily shook her head in response. ‘Typical, the _one_ time I ask for something …’

Lily chose to avoid the conversation of telling her sister that their mother had barely stepped a foot out of bed since the funeral. The woman was suffering from a broken heart, and Petunia was showing no compassion.

‘You and mother are coming out with me tonight to finally meet my boyfriend! You were supposed to meet him _weeks_ ago, but then the funeral and all that happened,’ Petunia drawled carelessly.

Lily felt a bubble of anger brew inside her at the words.

‘Anyway,’ Petunia continued, ‘we’re going out to a very nice restaurant today, and he’s been lovely enough to even offer to pay. You and mother are both to be there, it’ll be very rude if you aren’t. He has a very high opinion of me, and I don’t want either of you to ruin it for me. And I certainly couldn’t invite him here, I mean, look at the state of this place.’

‘What’s his name?’ Lily asked, trying to prevent a glower from piercing through Petunia’s skull. Yes the house was a bit of a mess, but for good reason. And if she was so unaffected by the tragedy that had struck their family, why didn’t she tidy up for once.

‘Vernon. Vernon Dursley. He’s wonderful,’ Petunia smiled dreamily before directing a glare Lily’s way. ‘And _you_ are to keep your little freak show under control. You’re not to speak of that school for freaks that you go to, I do not want to send him running for the hills.’

‘I’ll be there,’ Lily tried to keep her tone calm, but it wobbled. ‘What time?’

‘Six o’clock. I’ve left the address on the fridge. And please do something about your hair, it looks positively disgusting,’ Petunia spat, leaving the room.

Lily heard the front door slam as her sister left and sighed deeply. Shakily, she got up onto two feet and looked at the grandfather clock which read three o’clock. Three hours until she had to be at dinner. She probably needed all that time. She desperately needed a shower.

She padded up the stairs of the house and pushed open the door to her parents’ bedroom. Now her mum’s. Only.

It was extremely dark in the room. The curtain could have been duct taped to the wall due to the little amount of light that passed them. It was messy, clothes strewn all over the floor and one of the bedside lamps knocked over. Lily looked over to see a large, almost empty bottle of whiskey and a glass on the other beside table. Somewhere, underneath the mountain of duvet and blankets, lay her mother, unable to live.

Lily considered, even just whispering her mother’s name but decided against it. She quietly tip-toed out the room and shut the door softly. Her mother wasn’t ready. Neither was Lily, but she didn’t want to give Petunia the satisfaction of neither one of them showing up.

She dragged herself to the shower, allowing the scalding water to wash over her, waking her up. But Lily didn’t want to wake up. Waking up meant facing reality, and she wasn’t quite prepared to do that yet.

She brushed through her hair and pushed back any stray bits from her face with a decorative hairband. Slowly, she moved to her chest of drawers and started pulling out some clothes. Her drawers and room had somehow remained rather neat over her time at home. Only her pyjama drawer was the really messy one. She hadn’t bothered folding much, but she didn’t care.

Lily was still quite traditional, she felt. She was in morning, and would be for the foreseeable future, so she pulled out a long sleeved, black jumpsuit. The sleeves were decorated with lace, and it was one of Lily’s favourite pieces, but she wasn’t in any mood to admire fashion right now.

Leaving her vanity messy after covering up her dark circle and coating her eyelashes in mascara. She packed up a small bag full on essentials and slipped on a pair of black flats. The restaurant was quite far, but still within walking distance, so she decided not to wear heels.

Once she’d reached the restaurant, yes, it was rather charming, but that didn’t dull that constant ache within her. She pushed open the glass door to enter it, a little bell ringing to announce her arrival. Her eyes ran through the room before finding and settling on Petunia and her boyfriend sitting at a four seater table. They were giggling and gossiping away about something.

Vernon Dursley was certainly on the larger side. He was a big, beefy young man with a large purple face and what looked like the beginnings of an attempted, wispy moustache. He was made up of very little neck and had small beady eyes that became non-existent when amused.

Lily summoned up a smile as she walked up to the pair, hoping to be encouraging for Petunia’s sake. When Petunia’s eyes landed on Lily, her amusement from Vernon was instantly gone and replaced with a look of dissatisfaction.

‘You look … dreary,’ Petunia stated, wrinkling her nose. Lily chose to ignore the comment and instead turned to Vernon.

He was looking at her with the same look of disdain as Petunia was. He didn’t seem of have a sense of rudeness and Lily instantly felt rather uneasy around him.

‘Good evening, I’m Lily,’ she said kindly, sticking her hand out for Vernon to shake it. He eyed it dismally before grasping it in his own hand, shaking it loosely. Lily guessed that Petunia must have told him plenty about her sister.

‘Vernon Dursley. I’m sure Petunia has told you,’ he said self-importantly, his beady eyes watching Lily’s every move as she sat down and opened the menu.

‘Where’s our mother?’ Petunia asked her eyes wide and bright with dislike, like a cats.

‘She unfortunately was feeling too tired. She couldn’t come. She sends her best wishes, though, and said she’ll be very happy to meet your Vernon another time,’ Lily said as graciously as possible, only to be met with an eye roll from Petunia.

‘This is so typical, I’m so sorry, pumpkin, I don’t know why she’s being so incredibly selfish,’ Petunia said, giving Vernon a peck on the cheek, her tone soppy. Lily’s fist under the table clenched at her words.

‘It’s alright, my darling. My opinion of her is building just as you said it would,’ he responded, placing a sloppy kiss on Petunia’s lips. Lily fought against making a face of disgust. She was never one to be a fan of public displays of affection.

‘So, what were we thinking of for starters?’ Lily asked, eager to get the topic of conversation off of her mother and recent events. Otherwise, Lily was pretty sure she might whack Petunia over the head with the hard-backed menu.

‘Vernon and I are ordering a joint starter, you pick whatever you want,’ Petunia waved her hand dismissively. Lily nodded but was bubbling with rage under the surface.

The ordered starters arrived, Vernon wolfing down the majority of his and Petunia’s Lily was pretty sure that Petunia had barely had half a bite.

‘So Vernon, what is it that you do exactly?’ Lily asked, trying to make conversation with her sister’s counterpart. He puffed up his chest as a result of the question.

‘I’m at university, pursuing a degree in business and marketing,’ Vernon stated proudly. ‘It is a very difficult course, lots of number and statistics involved.’

‘Oh, that sounds interesting.’

‘It is. Lots of money after graduation as well, companies will be begging me to work for them,’ Vernon spoke with an aggressive passion.

‘Well, I wish you all the best, Vernon, I’m sure you’ll go very far in life,’ Lily spoke sincerely, but Vernon didn’t seem to be convinced.

‘Petunia, here, tells me you’re at boarding school,’ he said judgementally. Lily open her mouth to speak, but Petunia jumped in before she could.

‘Yes, she attends St Hilda’s, up north. It’s an all-girls school for rather _troubled_ teenage girls, I suppose,’ Petunia said flippantly. That time Lily couldn’t quite contain the glare she sent her sister. She was certainly being very daring tonight.

‘Ah, I understand. I suppose it’s in a very secure location then, not much contact with the outside world?’ Vernon directed the question to Lily, who felt the urge to kick them both.

‘Yes.’

‘They’re not even really allowed to send letters home or receive them, otherwise the program they use up there doesn’t work. It’s all rathe top secret, how they do things,’ Petunia expanded for Lily. The tension was rising between the two sisters.

‘I completely agree! Those who are troubled shouldn’t be allowed to integrate with us normal folk in normal society. It needs to be stamped out of them before they should be allowed back. Conformity is what makes the world go round,’ Vernon said with determination, his moustache twitching as he spoke.

Lily dropped the fork she was eating with, her anger getting the better of her. As the fork connected with the plate, it clanged loudly, alerting Vernon and Petunia.

‘You can’t honestly think that, can you?’ Lily questioned, astonished at the words she was hearing come out of Vernon’s mouth.

‘I absolutely do! People need to feel safe and with looney’s running around, one never feels safe. It’s much better that they’re all kept together in the one place, where they can only harm each other and those trained to deal with them,’ Vernon said obnoxiously.

‘Don’t you think there’s more effective methods to helping those kinds of people than simply locking them away?’ Lily argued, earning a glare from Petunia.

‘Lily! Remember your manners! Vernon has been kind enough to take us out for this lovely meal and you spoiling it,’ Petunia scolded her younger sister. ‘I’m very sorry, pumpkin, she’s still just upset about our dad, she’s not understanding what she’s sayi-’

‘And why aren’t _you_ more upset?’ Lily interrupted, finally losing some of her temper. Surprised, Petunia looked back at her.

‘Whatever do you mean?’ Petunia screeched.

‘Your _father_ had just died, and you don’t seem to be even slightly affected by it! He was lying on his deathbed and you barely visited him, instead, you were running around selfishly with your little boyfriend without a care in the world!’ all the thoughts Lily had been having were spilling out without warning. Petunia stared back at her in shock while Vernon’s purple face grew deeper.

‘You will not speak to Petunia in that way!’ Vernon thundered. They were now attracting the attention of other diners, as well as the staff. ‘Have some respect!’

‘ _Respect!’_ Lily scoffed at his words, her eye roll allowing her to spot a waiter carrying a cake. ‘It’s your girlfriend that needs to start showing some respect. Her father just passed away and she could barely muster up the effort to even attend the funeral!’

‘How dare you speak to me about dad in such a way! You don’t understand how I’ve been coping with things, not everyone behaves in the same goody-two shoes way that you do! I have my own methods!’ Petunia shrieked, only infuriating Lily more.

‘You still should have enough love in your heart t-’ Lily started, but she herself was now cut off, however, not by someone else’s words.

At some point behind her, a waiter tripped. He was the one carrying the mammoth birthday cake for one of the larger tables, but due to his stumble, his arms had flailed in front of him and the cake ended up being splattered all over Vernon and Petunia, who were in the direct line of fire.

‘Oh my God, I am so sorry!’ the waiter squealed, instantly rushing over.

‘How dare you!’ Petunia yelled, whimpering over her now ruined dress and cake accessorized hair. Lily couldn’t help but let out a whimper of a giggle.

‘I’m so sorry, I have no idea how that even happened! There wasn’t even anything for me to trip over!’ the waiter pleaded, his eyes scanning where he had tripped to find any explanation.

‘Get us the manager this instance!’ Vernon roared, frightening the waiter who instantly agreed and jumped to fetch the manager. Vernon and Petunia were now surrounded by other members of staff, trying to help clean them up and the surrounding area.

Amongst the commotion, Lily managed to slip out of the restaurant, unseen and spotless of any debris. She put her finger to her lips to hide her humour. She had an idea of how the waiter tripped, as she could vouch for him. There really was nothing for him to trip over.

Her magic must have spun out of control. She must have gotten so angry that, unknowingly, she sparked a motion for the waiter to trip and dump the cake in all its frosting and glory in on the infuriating couple in front over her. Normally, Lily was able to remain very calm with her sister. But this day Petunia had pushed Lily’s buttons to far. Nobody was allowed to speak of her father as though he had been irrelevant.

Petunia returned much later in the night. Lily had heard the front door slam and the sound of Petunia storming up the stairs as she read late into the night. Lily looked up into the ceiling.

‘Thanks dad,’ she whispered, blowing a kiss upwards. Although she knew it was far-fetched, some part of her believed that her dad had helped her orchestrate the downfall of the cake. He would have been laughing at the incident until his belly was sore, Lily knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello :)  
> I hope you've enjoyed the chapter and found it interesting. Writing abut grief hasn't been something I've done often, to be honest, so this was quite a new experience for me. I've been through it, as many of us have, but I've never had to describe it and I just hope that I've somehow been able to do it justice. We didn't get to know Gregory Evans much, unfortunately, but just know, he was one of the kindest men to ever exist and he would have absolutely loved James Potter ;)  
> Love, Julia xx


	35. Two Drifters

Sirius had tried to keep to himself as much as possible that summer. From his family, that is. Nothing good came from interacting with his family. With his friends, however, he was sending and receiving letters almost every day from his window at Grimmauld Place. James’s owl, Gilly, was now perfectly used to waiting for Sirius as he wrote a letter to be sent back to James. Sirius had his own great stash of owl nuts that he treated Gilly with whenever he flew round.

Sirius rather liked having Gilly at Grimmauld Place as well, simply for the company. It was one of the only sentient beings in the dark, grand house that didn’t snarl at the sight of him. It was quite a nice change from the usual disapproving and hateful glances.

‘There you go, Gilly,’ Sirius whispered, tying a letter to James on the owls leg. ‘Hurry back to James, you’ll be more comfortable there.’

Gilly hooted at the final stroke Sirius gave his feathers. He then nipped at Sirius’s finger affectionately and flew majestically out of the open window, disappearing into the moon.

Sirius looked after Gilly longingly. He wished he could fly off with him, escape into the night sky and not come back. Sirius was glad you couldn’t really see the stars in London. It would be one more unbearable reminder of who he was and where he came from. Holiday’s didn’t agree with him. He turned back and leant against his window ledge to look into his bedroom.

To say it pissed his parents off would have been an understatement. He had covered the room in Gryffindor colours from head to toe and there were Muggle posters of biker girls, the Beatles and Queen adorning the walls. His mother had tried to rip the decorations down, but Sirius had attached them with an irreversible permanent Sticking Charm. Walburga Black couldn’t have removed it if she cursed them off, which she tried to do.

His black record player along with his large collection of vinyl’s lay hidden under his bed as it was one thing that if his parents found out about, would be instantly confiscated. Over his bed and desk, he had photos of himself and his friends over the years, forming some sort of scrapbook on the walls.

He missed them, his friends. He was barely allowed outside the house, let alone to go visit anyone. Everyone he was friends with his parents disapproved of. On occasion, he was able to sneak out to go see them, like he did with the Potter’s that night during Christmas. The only reason he didn’t sneak out more often during the night was because his mother had taken up the habit of checking up on him during the night to see that he was in his room. The nights he wasn’t, and he returned … those days never went well for him.

He sighed and pushed himself off the window ledge, moving to his wardrobe to grab a fresh pair of boxers to change into. He slept in his underwear. He was still in need of a shower before collapsing into his bed, which was probably one of the only things he actually liked about Grimmauld Place. It was a king’s size bed and it was unbelievable comfy.

His broom hung, pride of place, above his head and it made Sirius smiled every time he saw it. His gift from the Potter’s. He felt as though they were more his family than the one he had been born to.

Suddenly, he heard a tapping at his window. He spun around, thinking it was Gilly who, for some reason, would be back already. Perhaps he had ran into some problems and had to turn back. What actually was outside his window, however, was the last thing he expected to see in London at one o’clock in the morning.

A grinning Marlene McKinnon was hovering on her own broom outside his window. Once he’d stared back at her, she took that as an invitation to swoop inside and land on his bedroom floor, her blonde hair windswept and a curious look on her face as her eyes took in the room before they landed back on him and she broke out into a grin again.

‘Hello, Black,’ she said casually, as though flying into his room and greeting him was the most normal thing she’d ever done. Sirius could confirm, it wasn’t.

‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ Sirius collected himself after his initial astonishment, leaning back against his wardrobe coolly. Marlene could see through what he was trying to do, and she raised her brows playfully at his antics.

‘I am here to take you out,’ Marlene announced happily, tossing her broomstick between her hands as she smiled at him cheekily. Sirius placed a hand on his chest in mock surprise.

‘McKinnon, are you _finally_ asking me out?’ he teased, making Marlene scoff and roll her eyes. She had a feeling she’d be doing a lot of that tonight.

‘Maybe if you were on your death bed,’ she retorted. ‘I’m here to get you away from this hell hole for a night. Merlin knows you must need it! A whole month back, you must be suffocating,’ she laughed, her words unfairly true.

‘How did you even know where I live?’ Sirius asked, tossing the boxers back into his wardrobe. Marlene was wearing a dark blue, oversized jumper and some denim shorts, her face free of makeup so her freckles showed. Despite it being a summer night, it was always quite cold on British summer nights.

‘You live in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black,’ Marlene stated sardonically, as though it was the most obvious thing. ‘Everyone under the wizarding sun knows where you lot live.’

‘Thanks for the reminder,’ Sirius muttered as he watched Marlene cross his room to his desk. She picked up the pocket Sneakoscope he always kept there and admired it for a second. It was always slowly spinning in the room, but whether it was due to him or some other presence in the house, Sirius didn’t know.

‘Well, you coming with me then, or are you just going to stand there gormlessly?’ Marlene asked as she set down the Sneakoscope.

‘Did you fly from Scotland all the way here?’ Sirius questioned, but Marlene shook her head.

‘No chance,’ she answered. ‘I’m staying with Matthew down here for a bit, now enough with the questions! Get a jumper on, grab your broom and let’s go!’

‘Okay, okay!’ Sirius laughed, opening up his wardrobe again and grabbing a hoodie. He would have put on his leather jacket, but it was still a bit too warm for such a fashion statement. ‘What’s your plan anyway, McKinney?’

‘Well,’ Marlene started dramatically. ‘Are you hungry?’

‘Now? It’s one in the morning, where are we going to get food from?’ Sirius laughed at her offer, tugging the hoodie over his head.

‘I’m in the mood for fish and chips,’ Marlene said with a wink, heading over to the window again. ‘Now, get out of this window!’

Sirius grinned as he grabbed his broom and headed to his window. He paused before climbing out, looking over his shoulder. It wouldn’t kill him if his mother caught him out of his room, just once. He could handle the consequences for one night of freedom.

He jumped onto his broom skilfully, feeling Marlene’s eyes on him as he did so. With a new sense of satisfaction, he spun to the blonde. She beckoned him with her head, and she flew off into the night, Sirius close onto her tail.

Flying over London at night was miraculous. Bright lights dotted layout of the city. It felt like they were flying with stars both below and above them. For once, Sirius didn’t despise the fact that stars were everywhere.

Soon, they left the London skyline behind and Sirius started to wonder where on earth they were headed. The compass on his broom said they were heading east, but the noise of flying was too loud for him to ask Marlene without stopping her. He didn’t want to stop at this moment in time. Flying brought him peace and he felt that he had been on edge for so long, he needed a bit of relaxation.

Marlene made them fly for about half an hour, grinning over her shoulder to him many times. With the speed they were going at, it was no surprise that they’d managed to make it to the British seafront. The blonde stopped and hovered for a bit, Sirius lining himself up alongside her.

‘Black, I would like to introduce you to Canvey Island,’ Marlene welcomed him to their stopping point. Sirius smirked at her wording.

Without warning, Marlene started swooping down to land, Sirius pressing himself flat against his broom to catch up with her. She landed straight in front of the sea and then started walking away from it. Matching pace with her, Sirius realised they were heading for a white building named The Leaping Mermaid. Sirius frowned, as there were no lights on in the building, other than what seemed to be one small lantern in an upstairs window.

Marlene seemed hellbent on shocking him that night, as she started banging her fist on the door of the building, grinning as she did it.

‘Have you gone barmy?’ Sirius asked with confused laughter as he watched. She looked at him, eyes sparkling.

‘Just trust me,’ she said cryptically. Sirius shrugged and agreed.

Several lights suddenly started switching on as whoever owned the place started making their way through the building towards them. Through the barricade of the front door, Sirius could hear whoever was coming to open it saying, ‘Alright, alright, don’t get your wand in a knot!’

The door opened to reveal a charming elderly lady, an intricately designed wand in hand. A frown adorned her face, but the moment she laid eyes on Marlene, a smile that could have lit up London graced her face.

‘MARS!’ she yelled ecstatically, pulling the blonde in for a hug. Marlene laughed with delight as she hugged her back. ‘What in Merlin’s beard are you doing here at such early hours in the morning?’

‘A friend of mine needed some respite for a bit,’ Marlene grinned as she pulled back. ‘Aunt Sofia, this is Black, Black, this is Aunt Sofia.’

‘Good morning, Aunt Sofia!’ Sirius grinned handsomely, turning on the charm. Sofia sent him a cheeky look, taking him in.

‘Oh, he’s a handsome one, Mars. Anyway, come in, come in! Have a seat, I’m guessing you want me to whip you up some fish and chips?’ Sofia asked, bustling them into the building before heading behind the bar where the door to the kitchen was.

‘He’s alright,’ Marlene grinned back at Sirius. He sent her a wink. ‘And yes, of course, two portions please!’

As Sofia left to make them the food, and Sirius took the time to take in the room. It looked like a traditional English pub, with tables and booths set up everywhere. The light was dim, almost as if it was candlelight instead of electricity. On the seafront walls, there were huge windows looking out onto the ocean, the waves probably calming any rowdy drunks. He smirked as he saw barrels labelled butterbeer and Wizard’s Brew hidden behind the bar. So it was a wizarding pub, disguised as a Muggle one when it needed to be covered.

‘Enjoying the view?’ Marlene caught his attention again.

He whipped his head to look at her. She was leaned casually across a chair at a four seater table, smirking at him.

‘I am now,’ Sirius replied smoothly, rearranging his hands in his jean pockets. He held her eyes until she rolled them, making him grin.

‘Hold the flirting until I have a full stomach, Black,’ Marlene sat forward to rest her forearms on the table and Sirius moved to sit opposite her.

‘You started, love, I’m just following you up,’ Sirius said as he to rested his forearms on the table. He cocked his head to the side a little as he looked at Marlene. ‘I always knew you think I’m hot.’

Marlene laughed breathily at his forwardness. ‘And what makes you think that?’

‘You agreed with Sofia,’ Sirius smirked as he cornered the blonde. Her blue eyes darted over his face.

‘Didn’t mummy ever teach you it’s rude to disagree with the elderly?’ Marlene taunted.

‘Can’t say mummy ever taught me much,’ Sirius replied, leaning back into his chair, and dropping his eyes to the wooden table. Marlene instantly felt awful. She hadn’t meant to remind him of his family the night she was trying to help him forget.

‘Two fish and chips and two Wizard’s Brew’s, thank me later,’ Sofia called out as she came out to them with some of the best fish and chips Sirius had ever seen or smelled. It was golden, crispy, and drenched in salt and vinegar.

‘You are a goddess, Aunt Sofia,’ Sirius gushed, gaining a giggle out of the elderly lady.

‘Oh, I like this guy, Mars! He’s a real charmer, reminds me of my Gary,’ Sofia laughed, Sirius smiling handsomely as he took a sip of his beer.

‘Who’s Gary?’ Sirius asked as Sofia sat down next to Marlene.

‘He was my husband, he died about ten years ago now. He was a right looker, like you, and he could charm circles around girls. I found it hilarious, watching as he dated floozy after floozy, it was very entertaining. He was my best friend,’ Sofia explained, her face lighting up with love as she spoke of her late man.

‘How did you two end up together?’ Sirius asked for her to expand, his eyes flitting to Marlene throughout the story. Her eyes were trained on Sofia as she took bites of her food.

‘Well, to put it quite frankly, we spent the night together,’ Sofia giggled, the thought of herself being so rebellious in her time clearly amusing her. ‘We had quite a lot to drink one night and one thing led to another. I remember waking up the next morning, _oh,_ how shocked I was at myself. I left before he woke up, I was so terrified of what it meant for us.’

‘I bet you were the only girl he couldn’t get. And the first girl ever to be the one leave him after a night like that instead of him bailing,’ Marlene chuckled. Sofia nodded with a close lipped smile.

‘He told me that many years later. We met up after that and agreed to put it all behind us, but there was always a tension left between us after that. A sexual tension, if I allow myself to say it,’ Sofia tittered at her words. Sirius and Marlene caught eyes to smirk at each other. ‘It was quite a few years before we couldn’t take it anymore. We even fooled around together on occasion, we used to get so jealous over one another! I remember, he took me down to that pier outside that window, got down on one knee and pulled out a ring. I was completely shocked, I wasn’t expecting it, and he looked so nervous, bless him. He gave me a big speech on love and then asked me to marry him.’

Sofia looked down at her hand, where the ring still sat, polished and shiny in all its diamond glory. She looked at it with so much love that it made Marlene’s heart swell.

‘Of course, I know now that I was in love with him long before we spent the night. But everything comes with time. And if you can find someone you can depend on, no matter what, it makes everything worth it. I will tell you this, my dears, falling in love with a best friend is one of the most wonderful, electrifying things a human being will ever experience.’

Sofia’s eyes glittered between the two teenagers in front of her. Sirius couldn’t deny, that had to be one of the best love stories he’d ever heard, even better than Mr and Mrs Potter’s. He couldn’t imagine anything more romantic. Sofia’s face showed pure, unadulterated love.

‘And some point during all of that, I met the itty bitty thing that was your mother,’ Sofia said happily, patting Marlene on the back with her hand. Marlene smiled back graciously at her.

‘So that’s how you two know each other?’ Sirius asked, pointing a finger between the two of them. The two ladies laughed at his words.

‘I met Mars’s mother when she was just a scrawny little thing, much like Mars over here -’

‘Oi!’

‘- shush - and I will never forget the day this little ten year old shows up on my doorstep, begging for something to eat and a place to sleep,’ Sofia chortled, taking a sip of the tea she’d brewed for herself while making the teenagers food.

Sirius frowned slightly. ‘ _Ten_ years old?’ he enunciated.

‘Yes, didn’t Mars tell you - _oh,_ oh, I’m sorry, I’ve stuck my foot in it, haven’t I?’ Sofia’s realisation crossed her, embarrassed at what she’d blurted out. Marlene shook her head in a way that told Sofia she needn’t worry.

‘Don’t worry, you can tell him,’ Marlene confirmed, darting her eyes to Sirius for a second, but he caught it.

‘Alright then,’ Sofia continued, ‘Madison ran away from home, from France, when she was little. Living with a Veela mother is difficult, let alone a single, abusive Veela mother. I took Madison in, figured out she was half-Veela, half-witch and when her letter for Hogwarts came the next year, I knew she was a special one. Gary and I raised Madison, even before we were married, and that beautiful woman has never looked back.’

They sat in silence for a moment, Sirius drinking the story of Marlene’s mother in. He didn’t think Marlene had ever told anyone that story. He furrowed his brows as his eyes flickered to the blonde. Their plates were now clear and their pint glasses empty.

‘Thank you so much for having us round, Aunt Sofia,’ Marlene thanked her as she started stacking her own and Sirius’s plates on top of each other. Sofia waved her hands frantically, taking the plates and glasses from Marlene.

‘Don’t you worry about that, sweetpea, I’ll tidy that. You two, you go out to the beach, have some fun. It’s lovely and empty at three in the morning,’ Sofia teased them with a wink.

Sofia disappeared to the back again. Marlene waited for a moment before beckoning Sirius with her head for them to leave out the door. They left their brooms in the crook of the door and made their way to the beach.

Dawn was starting to rise on the horizon. They reached the sandy beach and Marlene instantly pulled her shoes off and walked down to the water, the wind from the waves blowing her hair out of her face. Sirius followed suit.

She was sitting down in the sand once he reached her, so he moved down beside her. He couldn’t help but admire he as she sat there, peacefully, looking out into the sea, her features accentuated.

‘Sorry about your mum. That’s fucking rough,’ he said, now looking out into the ocean. Marlene let out a small smile.

‘Don’t apologise, it’s not your fault,’ she replied, her hands placed delicately in her lap.

‘Still, I’m guessing no one else knows,’ Sirius said.

‘I don’t exactly go singing it from the rooftops, I doubt she would appreciate that. But I don’t mind you knowing. You, out of anyone, probably know what she went through the best,’ Marlene replied, turning her head to gaze at the boy next to her. Sirius could feel the back of his neck heat up.

They sat without saying anything to each other for a while, watching the warm sunrise over the watery horizon. It was beautiful, as the stripes of sun illuminated their faces.

‘We should start heading back,’ Marlene sighed.

Sirius breathed in deeply. ‘Yeah, I guess,’ he spoke reluctantly. Marlene swallowed as she turn to gaze at him.

‘Okay, I’m only going to ask this once, so please don’t bullshit me. Do you _want_ to go back?’ she asked him, her compassion clear.

Sirius scoffed. ‘Do I have a choice?’ he asked rhetorically. Marlene shifted herself so her whole body faced Sirius.

‘ _Yes._ Yes, you do. You don’t have to go back. You _shouldn’t_ go back, not back to the way they treat you,’ Marlene said, full of determination.

‘And where would I go?’

‘Anywhere. Go to where you know people respect you, where people love you. Where you know people won’t treat you like shit,’ Marlene emphasised, only eliciting another laugh out of Sirius.

‘McKinnon, I don’t have anywhere like that,’ he sniffed.

‘You do. You know you do, and you’ll understand that when you need to. But please don’t go backwards, you don’t deserve that. Go forwards. Always.’

Sirius met Marlene’s blue eyes, those lovely eyes. His own dipped down to her lips and he had the urge to kiss her. But he held back. He couldn’t go there. She wouldn’t let him.

They collected their brooms and flew back to London. Marlene flew Sirius back to Grimmauld Place, despite his protests that she should go home. He climbed through his window and turned back to the blonde hovering outside his window.

‘Thank you, for tonight. I had a really good time,’ Sirius told her sincerely, sticking his head out the window, his hands resting strongly on the ledge. Marlene looked down at her broom and then back to him, almost shyly.

‘I forgot to ask, how did that little courtship party that Walburga set up for you go?’ Marlene changed the subject by teasing him. Sirius flicked his head to side and smirked.

‘How did you know about that?’ he asked curiously.

‘I was invited,’ Marlene dropped the bomb with her own smirk. Sirius’s face broke out into an amazed grin.

‘You bitch, and you didn’t come!’ he exclaimed playfully, making Marlene laugh.

‘If you think I was sitting through that pile of shit, you don’t know me well at all!’

‘It would have been less of a pile of shit if we were both causing chaos together!’

‘Nothing even has the ability to be a pile of shit when we’re together,’ Marlene laughed, the words slipping out before her brain could process them.

She could feel Sirius’s intense stare on her. If this moment was last year, she would have gone there. She would have climbed through his window and dragged him to his bed. She’d push him down onto it, straddle him, wrap her hands around his neck and kiss him. Hard. She wanted to feel him against her.

‘We should do this again,’ Sirius whispered to her, embracing the intimate moment. He had so few honest ones and this felt like one of them.

Marlene nodded. ‘Bye, Black,’ she bid him farewell and Sirius watched her fly off into the London light.

‘Bye Marley,’ he whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gives me butterflies, honestly :)  
> I didn't want to hint that this chapter was going to be Blackinnon, as I wanted it as a little surprise, but it honestly makes me smile a lot :) I'm also convinced that Aunt Sofia is an angel sent from heaven.  
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, 'cause Lord knows I did. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy ahaha :) and it's no secret that I love Sirius and Marlene, I think they're bloody great :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	36. Black Vultures

‘They call themselves “Death Eaters”,’ Marcus McKinnon slammed a file onto the desk of his boss and Head Auror, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody. Mad-Eye looked up, eyebrow raised as his stare flitted from the blue paperwork to his best employee.

‘Who calls themselves what?’ Mad-Eye questioned.

‘Tom Riddle’s followers. Or, if you want to know his new, accurate, leader name; Lord Voldemort,’ Marcus said, running a hand through his hair. He was stressed. His surprise was clear when Mad-Eye let out a light chuckle.

‘That son of a bitch is calling himself a Lord?’ he said in disbelief.

‘Or his other alias; the Dark Lord,’ Marcus sighed and sat in one of the two seats that Mad-Eye had in front of his desk.

Mad-Eye’s office was very spacious. It had random little gadgets all around it, several that Marcus felt too nervous to even touch. Mad-Eye’s favourite piece of equipment was his spyglass. Mad-Eye apparently saw dozens of faces in it, but Marcus only saw one. He felt rather lucky, with only one enemy.

Mad-Eye clicked his tongue. ‘The boys bold,’ he elongated the vowels. ‘How did you find out about this?’

‘You hang around in the White Wyvern protected with the Polyjuice Potion long enough, you start to hear a plethora of things,’ Marcus smirked, linking his fingers together and leaning back in his seat. Mad-Eye shook his head.

‘I bloody hate that place. Worst thing to come out of Knockturn Alley,’ Mad-Eye voiced his opinions. ‘So what did you get?’

‘Riddle had a small group to start with. Apparently he had a little circle of Slytherin’s when he was at school, called themselves the “Knights of Walpurgis.” Riddle was allegedly going by “Lord Voldemort” during school,’ Marcus explained, trying his best not to let his hatred show.

‘So … this has not just been a quick snap thing,’ Mad-Eye concluded, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

‘It absolutely is not, he’s been planning something like this for _years_. Riddle graduated Hogwarts in 1945. He’s got something planned out, and now that he’s got a following to back him up and willing to do his dirty work, who knows what he’s going to do,’ Marcus ranted, his brain rehashing all the murders that they had been fighting tooth and nail to keep out of the papers.

‘Do you know whether the inner circle of whatever this guy’s following is, are the Knights of Walpurgis and then the rest of those who idolise him are called Death Eaters?’ Mad-Eye asked, leaning on his desk as he twiddled his thumbs. Marcus sighed in dismay.

‘No, I know nothing like that. I just heard whispers at that pub.’

‘Any names mentioned.’

‘Come on, Mad-Eye. Anyone who had any information about anything isn’t stupid enough to go about shouting it,’ Marcus scoffed. Mad-Eye grumbled in response.

‘Fuck,’ Mad-Eye swore finally, banging his fist so hard that his desk shook. Marcus wasn’t shocked. He had been on the receiving end of his boss’s temper tantrums many times.

They wouldn’t be able to hold stories back from the press much longer, that wasn’t how the Ministry of Magic worked. Someone always found out about something, and the _Daily Prophet_ paid heftily for breaking stories.

‘We know exactly who is behind these murders, Mad-Eye,’ Marcus growled.

‘McKinnon, we cannot make accusations without proof, you know the protocol -’

‘Bullshit!’ Marcus argued aggressively. ‘You know as well as I do it’s those fucking pureblood fanatics of the bloody Sacred Twenty-Eight! There’s no question about it! They’re all conspiring against this Riddle guy!’ 

‘McKinnon, you know as well as I do that we can’t go after these people prosecuting them without proof. You can’t hand out court orders simply because you have a hunch and that’s final!’ Mad-Eye retorted, shutting Marcus up. Mad-Eye liked the man, but he could be very hot tempered. ‘Whoever it is, doing this, they’re bloody well skilled. They’re not some scoundrels off the street, waiting to get caught!’

McKinnon fell back into his chair, refusing to make eye contact. ‘This is such bullshit, the laws are such bullshit.’

‘I know,’ Mad-Eye tried to console him, though he assumed he was unsuccessful. ‘No matter what, McKinnon, you know you are not one of them. You’re a good man.’

‘Oh, I know that,’ McKinnon agreed, somewhat arrogantly. His eyes flicked back up to Mad-Eye. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Glad you asked. I need you to start pushing through some paperwork. Or at least get your secretary to start it. I want the Auror Training Course to be reduced to two years from three. I don’t care if it puts the students under stress, I don’t care if some parts of the course need to be cut out, I don’t want to hear one single complaint! I have a feeling we’re going to need good Aurors as quickly as possible. We’re running out of time,’ Mad-Eye said, a deep frown set on his face.

‘I’ll get on that now,’ Marcus agreed, giving an enthusiastic nod.

‘Before you do that, I need you to do something else,’ Mad-Eye added, moving to rummage around in the top drawer of his desk, pulling out another blue file and a slip of parchment.

‘Just say the word.’

‘I need you to go and speak to Horace Slughorn, the Potions professor at Hogwarts,’ Mad-Eye announced, taking the black quill that sat majestically on his incredibly messy desk and began filling out the slip on parchment.

Marcus creased his forehead. ‘Yeah, I know who he is, he’s been there since the dawn of time. Why?’ the Auror asked curiously at the request.

Mad-Eye finished filling out the form and set the quill down, looking up at Marcus. ‘Do you know what the Slug Club is?’

‘Yes, it’s horrifically elitist and my daughter’s in it,’ Marcus chuckled at his own response. ‘She’s good at potions.’

‘Good for her,’ Mad-Eye replied nonchalantly. ‘I need you to go speak to Horace Slughorn because he was Riddle’s Potions professor. And he was in the Slug Club. Dumbledore told me some time back, but I couldn’t see how everything might link together yet.’

‘Ah,’ Marcus breathed in understanding, Mad-Eye nodding with him.

‘I need you to find out who else was in that Slug Club with him, preferably who was in the same year as him because, let’s be honest, most of them are Slytherin’s. I’m going to try my best to keep all this shit out of the press for the time being,’ Mad-Eye snarled. Marcus swallowed in disdain.

‘I’ll find out as much as I can,’ Marcus said firmly, taking the blue folder and slip of parchment Mad-Eye handed to him.

‘You’ll find out all the information you’ll need to know in there. The parchment is a warrant in case you end up having to go to Slughorn’s house. It forces him to let you whether he likes it or not,’ Mad-Eye elaborated.

‘Thanks,’ Marcus said. ‘I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.’

‘Good. Because we need information as soon as possible.’

* * *

James Potter had been extremely happy having, what felt like, the laziest summer of his life. He had spent his days eating his weight in lemon ice lollies and pottering around in the back garden, lying on the daisy dotted grass, watching bees buzz around. Euphemia was playing a constant stream of summer ballads as she drank her coffee and grazed on several snacks. The only person who was often missing was Fleamont. He had been going in and out of the Ministry more often than usual, despite being retired.

‘What’s your thoughts for dinner tonight, Jamie,’ Euphemia asked, peering over her sunglasses at his son who was bathing in the summer sun. She had been urging him to apply sun cream for the past ten days, but James profusely refused and was resembling a lobster more and more every day.

‘Oh, I don’t know. It’s warm, I’m not that hungry,’ he mumbled, unhappy with the disturbance to his peace.

‘Yes, until you end up going to play Quidditch later and come back ravenous,’ Euphemia tutted, returning her sunglasses to the bridge of her nose.

‘And people wonder why I’m sarcastic,’ James snickered, flipping onto his stomach from his back to look at his mother. Euphemia laughed with a short breath.

‘Oh, James, darling, don’t flatter yourself! Your sarcasm is nowhere near as advanced and skilled as mine!’ Euphemia sniggered in response, making James scoff in offense.

‘You know, I don’t think my ego will be able to take much more of this summer, my self-esteem is plummeting over here!’ James exclaimed. Euphemia’s chuckles only increased as a response.

‘From what Marlene tells me, your ego won’t allow your self-esteem to plummet,’ Euphemia laughed, and James spluttered in disagreement.

‘You shouldn’t listen to everything Marlene tells you, she’s always trying to show me in the worst light!’ James defended himself, but he was smirking. It had been a long running tradition between himself and Marlene of who could make the other look worst in front of their parents without genuinely incriminating them.

‘She’s coming over for a week before you back to school remember,’ Euphemia spoke, her words making James roll his eyes.

‘She always comes over the last week before school, that’s nothing new, the whole house ends up smelling of her perfume. She sprays the shi - stuff - like there’s no tomorrow!’ James replied, catching himself before he swore in front of his mother. He was too relaxed to ruin it with a lecture about language from his mother.

‘Yeah, you could take a leaf out of her book,’ Euphemia muttered with a smirk.

‘Uncalled for,’ James replied.

James ended up not having dinner with his parents, as it stood. He ended up receiving a letter for Remus inviting him over for the evening and James gladly took it up. He hadn’t seen his friends for quite some time now. Meeting up with both Sirius and Remus could be awkward and he wasn’t took keen of spending time with _just_ Peter. Conversation with him stuck about as well as paint did to wet plaster.

He tumbled through the fireplace of Remus’s Welsh home, Hope Lupin certainly receiving quite the shock as she sat in her living room, watching the news when her fireplace suddenly started to thunder.

‘What the bloody hell?’ she exclaimed, jumping up onto the sofa she was sitting in. Her eyes widened even further, to the size of plates as she watched a teenage boy become unveiled from the ash in her now rather messy lounge.

‘Oh, sorry for the mess, Mrs Lupin,’ James grinned at her, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his shirt. Hope still looked rather shell-shocked as she crouched on the sofa, staring at James in disbelief.

‘Hi James,’ she breathed quietly, hearing a clap of footsteps running into the room.

‘Don’t worry, honey, it’s just the Floo Network!’ Lyall Lupin panted before setting his eyes on James. ‘Hi, James, Remus is out in the garden.’

‘Thanks Mr Lupin!’ James said cheerfully and made his way out of the room, leaving the couple.

Hope raised an eyebrow to her husband, who was grinning to her in attempts to butter her up from the state magic had left her living room.

‘You’re cleaning this is up,’ she said, settling back down on the sofa, still shaken.

‘Yes, dear.’

James exited to the garden, finding Remus reading on one of the garden benches. He rolled his eyes at the sight. There wasn’t a moment when Remus wasn’t reading.

‘You ever get bored of that?’ James asked as he sat down next to him. Remus looked up and grinned, dog-earing the page he was on and closed over the book.

‘People in books can be more interesting than those in front of me,’ Remus teased as the golden hour of sun shone down on them through the trees that shaded them.

Remus looked much more rested than he had at Hogwarts. His scars seemed to be healing better and there were no longer dark circles under his eyes. Even his hair seemed to be growing healthier. Exams amidst of being a werewolf had taken their toll on Remus probably the worst out of anyone, but he’d pushed through. And he was looking better for it already.

‘Moony, that has to be one of the saddest things I have ever heard’ James said solemnly, making Remus scowl playfully at him. ‘And either way, if that was true, you wouldn’t have invited me over today.’

‘I actually invited you over for your own sake,’ Remus said, his expression dropping to one that was much more serious.

‘What’s up,’ James asked, his forehead creasing at the statement.

‘You’ll thank me for it, I’m making sure you don’t act like a dick next year when you see her,’ Remus continued, somewhat cryptically.

‘See who?’ James demanded.

‘Lily.’

‘Oh, fucking hell, Remus, just tell me what happened!’ James exclaimed, irritated at the riddles Remus was providing him with.

‘Her father died,’ Remus announced, rather coldly. James’s face fell as he drank in the information, slumping from his already relaxed position. He hadn’t expected news like that. It clearly hadn’t been good news that Remus was offering to him, but he hadn’t expected something quite so solemn and disastrous.

‘Shit,’ James stated after a while. Remus nodded in agreement, staring down at the grass. There was a bug crawling about by his feet, climbing it’s way over grass which probably seemed like mountains to it.

James delved into the back of his jean pockets and pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a small, blue lighter. He ripped open the packet and offered it to Remus, who gladly took one. He then pulled one out himself and then used the Muggle lighter to light them both up. At Hogwarts, they’d usually light them with their wands, but they weren’t allowed to use magic outside of school. Not yet. They had less than a year left to wait.

‘How did you find out?’ James asked finally, after they’d smoked for a while. The death of a parent was heavy. No one expected to deal with it at the age of sixteen.

‘She wrote to me about it not too long ago. Apparently he had lung cancer and it was too late to save him,’ Remus explained. The world suddenly seemed cloudier than it actually was. A chill set in on them, and it didn’t feel like summer anymore.

‘Fuck,’ James breathed. ‘Even magic couldn’t save him?’

‘No. It’s not the kind of illness magic can actually help,’ Remus responded sadly.

‘It’s a joke. We can make fucking bones grow back in the matter of a day if somehow someone manages to make them disappear from their arm, but curing someone is impossible,’ James muttered bitterly.

‘It’s not fair. It’s really not fair,’ Remus agreed, breathing the smoke out of his lungs.

‘How is she dealing with it?’ James asked finally. He had wanted to ask it instantly as soon as Remus had unveiled the news to him. His first thoughts were Lily. Just Lily.

James didn’t feel like it was his place to ask much about how Lily was. He had started feeling like that ever since the Lake incident with Snape, where he called her a Mudblood, but then she turned to him to say that he was just as bad as the Slytherin. That had cut him to the core.

He was angry after it, unbelievably angry, and his friends had never seen him so shut up and quiet. Lily’s words had definitely burst some sort of bubble around him that he didn’t know he had, and he started seeing things in a different light.

He never thought he’d be someone who would need to have another yell at him to knock some sort of sense in his head. Over the summer, his mind had been spinning as he evaluated his actions over the years. Of course, he couldn’t entirely change who he was. He was egotistical, and loved, pampered. But for the first time in his life, he was wanting to grow from that.

The first way he could think to do that was to leave Lily behind. No matter how much he fancied her.

‘I mean, she’s doing as well as she possibly could be. She was really close with her dad, I remember her telling me. She was excited for him to come to Hogwarts for graduation,’ Remus replied.

‘That’s almost two years away.’

‘You know Lily. She’s always planning ahead,’ Remus let out a somewhat dark chuckle.

‘Yeah,’ James nodded. He knew more about Lily than the redhead would probably ever know.

He knew she liked two spoonful’s of golden syrup in her porridge in the morning and that she’d push off the stubborn parts with her finger before licking it. She blinked every time she swore, as though her body was rejecting the action. She purse her lips a little if she was concentrating on something, like writing an essay. He knew so many of her little quirks just from observing her, it’s how he knew the ways to push her buttons and annoy her. Against all odds, James knew Lily Evans very well.

James and Remus sat to eat some dinner and play a few games exploding snap before it was time for James to head home. The rest of the day they spent together had been rather lovely, but with the looming knowledge over them about Lily’s father, there wasn’t the same amount of banter or comedy as there usually was.

It was beginning to get dark outside when he got back and he found his parents lounging in the living room, smiling at him as he returned. James went through to the kitchen to grab himself a slab of chocolate and returned his parents, sitting down in one of the armchairs. He had always found it fascinating that Remus’s lounge had a strange, box-like invention called a television. It was like there were people living in the little box, like one of the paintings at Hogwarts but you couldn’t interact with them.

Suddenly, it seemed like the someone was attempting to bash the front door in. The three Potter’s frowned at the noise. Fleamont folded his newspaper and stood up as James headed to the door, tentatively, jumping slightly each time another bang was punched onto it.

He opened it to reveal Sirius. His best friend, who looked up to him from his arched position with such pain in his eyes that it made James’s heart stop.

Sirius fell in through the front door and sat down on the polished hardwood floors, Euphemia instantly rushing to his side. James couldn’t take his eyes off him yet felt entirely useless. It was the worst he had ever seen Sirius.

His eye was beaten up and already started to bruise, blood trickling from the side of his face. His arms and face were also cut up, with many of the markings all over him. It was easy to spot the ones that were performed with Dark Magic. They were the worst.

James gathered himself enough to be able to drag the bag that Sirius had brought with him into the house and shut the front door. He turned back to see Euphemia had removed Sirius shirt and led him onto the sofa. James’s eyes widened. Sirius’s chest and back looked as though they had been lashed with a belt, deep gashes showing delicate flesh. There were bruises and scars all over him, blood smeared all over his fair skin. James started to feel an unknown rage fill him.

That’s when he was able to take Sirius in fully. The boy was shaking, constantly, as though he was freezing. His eyes were shut as Euphemia started to attempt to heal him. She asked if he wanted to go to St. Mungo’s. Sirius muttered no. Euphemia was going to do everything in her power to obey his wishes. He was traumatised. Even as a Healer, she had never seen quite so much magical harm purposefully inflicted on a man, let alone a teenager. From the way he was shaking, she was sure he had been the victim of the Cruciatus Curse.

‘Sirius,’ Fleamont crouched down next to him, but to Sirius, all their voices were muttered. ‘You’re safe. You’re home.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter feels quite jumpy, but I actually quite like how it flows somehow :)  
> The next chapter will be Sirius's full escape from Grimmauld Place, but I wanted to set it up in a specific way, which I hope you guys haves enjoyed. I'd had the structure of how I wanted Sirius's leaving to go in my head for a while and I'm glad I finally got to write it into existence. The next chapter truly fuels my hatred for his family tho :/.  
> Please keep your comments coming, they truly make me so happy, and let me know what you think of the fic so far as a whole :) I adore writing it, but there's also nothing better than hearing your opinions, your comments make me glow!  
> Love, Julia xx


	37. Crimes of Liberation

‘You need to straighten that,’ Regulus said, referencing Sirius’s bow tie. Sirius scowled. He hated dress robes.

‘I know,’ he muttered, his hands moving up to the white fabric that constricted him against the stiff collar. It felt like it was choking him, and although some people could like that as a kink, Sirius wasn’t a fan. Hestia Bones had shown him that much.

‘Try and keep your mouth shut tonight, will you?’ Regulus asked, not unkindly as he moved to sit down on the edge of Sirius’s bed. ‘I really don’t want have to deal with another screaming match.’

‘Is Bellatrix going to be here?’ Sirius asked. The question itself made Regulus roll his eyes.

‘You know she is.’

‘Then I can’t make any promises,’ Sirius finished, his eyes flitting to Regulus in the mirror.

Tonight was the annual Black (and whoever was married or engaged or “courting” them) dinner party. Sirius despised this night and wished nothing more than for it to be over with. This year it was being held a Grimmauld Place, though the chances of him being able to slip away back to his bedroom were slim to none. Walburga was going to be watching him like a hawk.

‘I reckon she’s bringing that Rabastan Lestrange bloke,’ Regulus wrinkled his nose at the idea, which made the corners of Sirius’s mouth twitch.

‘Well, they are engaged,’ Sirius replied shortly, not wanting to dwell on the subject any longer. Bellatrix and Lestrange were due to be married in the next two weeks. That was one occasion Sirius was dreading even more than tonight’s dinner party. ‘Is Narcissa bringing that Malfoy guy?’

‘From what I know, yes. He’s … a piece of work,’ Regulus tried to put it as kindly as possible, but all it did was make Sirius snort.

‘That’s the understatement of the century. Besides, I thought he was part of your little Slytherin gang,’ Sirius said passively. Regulus was sure his elder brother stopped himself from saying those words far more maliciously.

‘What were you doing? That night you were caught not being in your room and mother yelled at you,’ Regulus asked, changing the subject. After Walburga had said her piece, she’d sent Sirius to his father, to his office. Peeking from the staircase, Regulus had seen Sirius exit it with a few fresh injuries. They had gotten worse for his brother that summer, Regulus noticed, the punishments.

Something flashed in Sirius’s eyes, so quickly that Regulus almost though he had imagined it.

‘It was nothing, don’t concern yourself with it,’ Sirius replied emotionlessly, spraying himself with some cologne. After considerable market research, Sirius had noticed that girls seemed to love his cologne. It was woody and musky, and they all ended up commenting on it.

Of course, Regulus was referencing the time Sirius had snuck out with Marlene, but Sirius wasn’t about to admit that to his little brother. He had been right anyway. The consequences had been worth the good night.

Regulus nodded and left the room. He had grown used to it, Sirius no longer sharing his secrets with him and keeping him out of his life. Regulus couldn’t deny that he wasn’t still a little sensitive to the close-to-stranger notion of their relationship now, but Sirius wouldn’t allow for anything else.

They had been very close before Sirius had left for Hogwarts. They were a team, fighting against the world and keeping each other safe. That was before Sirius had been sorted in the Gryffindor and became the family disappointment. After that, Regulus was the golden child, the perfect one who his parents adored. Sirius had been treated badly ever since his first Christmas back from Hogwarts.

They had never been treated too well by their parents, but it grew into something else after Sirius’s first year, and it pushed the two brothers away from each other, no matter how Regulus tried to hold on. Then he was sorted into Slytherin and a permanent wall was stuck between them. It was no longer the two of them fighting against the world. It was Sirius against Regulus and their parents, in the eldest’s eyes.

Sirius let out a deep sigh as he took one last look at himself in the mirror. He would be seventeen in a few months. Then he’d be able to do whatever he wanted. He’d just have to wait it out.

The entire extended Black family were soon sitting along a long streamlined table, Bellatrix Black thankfully at the other end of the table from Sirius. He was very glad, as she looked even more evil than the last time he’d seen her. Her black hair surrounded her face wickedly and she cackled at something Lestrange muttered in her ear.

 _Bloody hell,_ Sirius thought to himself.

‘Fix your face, you couldn’t look more unhappy,’ his mother hissed viciously in his ear. Sirius fought frightfully against the urge to roll his eyes before placing a sarcastic smile on his face that seemed believable enough to fool Walburga. He allowed his ears to engage in listening to conversations around the table.

‘How’s Gryffindor treating you,’ Narcissa who was sitting across from him asked. Sirius felt taken aback in surprise at her willingness to include him in conversation with her fiancé, Lucius Malfoy sat right next to her. He looked less than pleased at the interaction.

‘It’s good. We won the Quidditch Cup this year,’ he replied, taking a sip of red wine. All Black children started drinking red wine from the age of twelve at these sort of events. Sirius despised the taste.

‘You won by luck, I suppose. Slytherin always won when I was one the team,’ Lucius bit in self-importantly. ‘Gryffindor were always rough with their grounds of playing.’

Sirius bit his tongue after an apologetic look from Narcissa for Lucius’s less than pleasant tone. ‘Well, we must just have a good team this year.’

‘Slytherin needs a better Captain, like I was, on top. Just wait until my son gets to Hogwarts, they won’t know what will hit them,’ Lucius stated proudly. Sirius’s gaze flitted to Narcissa, who looked incredibly uncomfortable.

‘You do realise that I’m Seeker on the Slytherin team, Lucius?’ Regulus said, as politely as possible, but it made Sirius smirk.

‘What position did you come in this year?’ Lucius asked.

‘Third,’ Regulus replied impassively.

‘I rest my case.’

Sirius watched as Regulus bit his lip in frustration. Lucius had a talent in riling people up. And despite what people thought, Regulus was actually the Black brother that had a temper. Sirius was good at remaining calm. Years of abuse from Orion Black had taught him that much.

Sirius had managed to shut out many conversations that concerned him that night, until his father’s sister-in-law, Druella Black, brought attention to him.

‘So … Sirius,’ she drawled, quietening the table. Sirius raised his head from his plate to look at her, on eyebrow raised.

‘Yes?’ he asked.

‘Don’t take that tone with your Aunt!’ Walburga instantly scolded him. Sirius’s fist curled under the table as he urged himself not to snarl.

‘Listen to your mother, Sirius,’ Druella sneered at him. ‘I want to know how your ball went?’

‘What ball?’ Sirius frowned, his tone showing no improvement, which made steam come out of Walburga’s ears.

‘Your courting ball, boy,’ Orion stated powerfully. It was one of the first times he’d spoken all evening. He was a quiet, but deadly man.

‘Oh, that,’ Sirius said, flippantly, making everyone catch their breath. No one, in the Black family, spoke with such level of disrespect. ‘Fine.’

‘Daphne Greengrass caught our eye, actually,’ Walburga expanded on her son’s short response. ‘She’s a fine Slytherin, and, of course, is part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight.’

Sirius smirked into his food. He’d barely spoken to anyone, let alone Daphne Greengrass at the “courting ball.” She was one of the prettier girls, Sirius would give her that, but not much else. She was dull and pig-nosed, with an eternal grimace on her face. She was part of the group of Slytherin’s that Snape associated himself with, most of the girls who came were.

‘Walburga, I heard you invited one of those frightful Gryffindor’s to the ball,’ Cygnus Black, Orion’s brother, and husband to Druella, spoke up.

‘Yes, Marlene McKinnon, was it?’ Druella added, gasping at the notion.

‘Yes, she didn’t accept, thankfully, but we needed one more girl, and her father, Marcus McKinnon was in Slytherin. She’s pureblood and pretty, the only fault is her House,’ Walburga wrinkled her nose.

Sirius snorted slightly at the notion that Marlene McKinnon was a pureblood. He would give anything to correct his mother at this moment in time.

‘Yes, but still, surely you could have gone without that extra girl. Marcus McKinnon was always a strange one as well, completely unsuited for Slytherin,’ Cygnus growled. Sirius could feel his blood pressure rise.

‘I remember that little McKinnon girl, in her first year,’ Bellatrix’s shrill, evil voice joined the conversation. Sirius breathed slowly, closing his eyes. She was the one he was hoping there’d be no interaction with. ‘Frightful blonde thing. She had quite a mouth on her, I gave her detention many times for that lip.’

‘Yes, I remember too. Always thought she was the smartest in the room and that the rules didn’t apply to her,’ Lucius added his two cents, unhelpfully. Regulus flicked his eyes over to Sirius, seeing his elder brother growing increasingly agitated.

‘You should do more research on who you invite to these events, Walburga,’ Druella spoke smugly. There had always been animosity between the two witches, Druella holding an obscene amount of resentment for the fact that Walburga had been able to conceive boys. The tension bubbled like a potion in a cauldron.

‘Or maybe, she’s just someone who’s not frightened to speak her opinion,’ Sirius said quietly, but the silence that followed was deafening. Everyone’s heads had turned round to look at him, scathing glares in his directions. He wasn’t well liked within the family, clearly.

‘Children should be seen, not heard, furthermore, girls,’ Cygnus was the first to break the silence. Sirius swallowed.

‘Excuse me,’ Sirius threw the napkin that was laying over his lap next to his plate and stood up. ‘I need to use the lavatory.’

He exited the dining room and headed for the kitchen, desperate for a tall glass of water. He needed to calm down before walking back into the room, with his family. The deranged lot of them. He was struggling ever more to bite his tongue about certain topics. He wished for nothing more than for Andromeda to be sat in that room with him but was also glad for her escape.

He leant against the kitchen counter after gulping down some water that. His gaze went to the window that overlooked the back garden. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to wipe the memories that arose from that view from his mind.

‘Master Sirius, Mistress Walburga has sent Kreacher to tell Master that Master is to return to the dining room immediately,’ Kreacher creepily appeared next to Sirius. Sirius hated the elf with a passion.

‘Quit bothering me, Kreacher. Away with you!’ Sirius snarled, glaring at the elf. Kreacher flinched slightly.

‘Master’s orders come below Mistress Walburga’s -’

‘Kreacher, I will fucking smack you into next week!’ Sirius hissed, losing his nerve. Kreacher stepped back, grumbling, and disappeared from the kitchen.

Sirius took one more deep breath before mustering up the strength to head back to his so-called, family, but he now felt more riled up than before he left. He paused before stepping back in, to hear the conversation.

‘Is he still friends with that Potter boy?’ Druella questioned as she spat out the surname.

‘As far as we know, yes. That House, those people have corrupted him,’ Walburga replied.

‘Filthy blood traitors, the lot of them. I’m surprised you stand for it, Orion,’ Druella continued.

‘That house is full of nothing but blood traitors and Mudbloods. That Potter boy has a crush on a filthy redhead Mudblood from what I remember. That Potter has no sense of loyalty, he’s a disgusting little -’ but Sirius couldn’t listen to Bellatrix bad mouth his brother anymore. He couldn’t stand.

‘Shut up! Don’t say another word, or you’ll have more to fucking worry about that your fiancé beating you!’ Sirius yelled as he rammed himself through the door and into the room, his wand raised. They looked back at him, appalled, but Bellatrix, who he was holding eye contact with, was smirking gleefully.

‘Aw, ickle Sirius is protecting his best friend,’ Bellatrix cackled condescendingly.

‘Sirius, how _dare_ you speak like that to your cousin!’ Walburga exclaimed, standing up.

‘You don’t know anything about James, or any of my friends, you’re the fucking filth, all of you!’ Sirius raged. He was so angry he couldn’t think. How dare they speak of people they didn’t know in such a way, _good_ people.

‘You’ve gotten _very_ brave, Siri, I must say. It’s adorable how you’d protect those little blood traitors and Mudbloods,’ Bellatrix continued, grinning wickedly as she sat back in her chair, observing the scene.

‘Shut up!’

‘Maybe he fancies a little Mudblood, Walburga, wouldn’t that be something. Or better yet, a filthy half-breed -’

Bellatrix couldn’t continue her sentence but was still grinning as Sirius pressed his wand up to her throat.

‘You’re fucking testing me, and it won’t end well,’ Sirius glowered, pressing his wand further. Bellatrix cackled.

‘Your son’s growing into himself, Orion. If you’re not careful, he’ll end up just like my baby sister, marrying filthy blood, having filthy children -’

‘ _Flipendo,_ ’ Sirius yelled, sending Bellatrix flying back into the wall with her chair. He then felt a pair of hands wrap around his wrists and the glare of Rabastan Lestrange on him.

‘You’ve got some fucking nerve, boy,’ Lestrange glared, his other hand aiming his wand at Sirius.

‘I would do a whole lot fucking worse,’ Sirius swore in return. ‘Jealous because it wasn’t you who got to beat her up for once?’

Sirius’s taunt caused some form of strangled cry to be released from Lestrange’s throat, about to curse Sirius. The eldest Black son was prepared for whatever was about to hit him, but, instead, a hand gripped onto Lestrange’s forearm and lowered it.

‘Sirius,’ Orion spoke calmly, without looking at his son, his eyes on Lestrange. ‘Go to my office. _Now._ ’

‘You’re insane if you think I’m going anywhere -’

‘NOW!’ Orion thundered, whipping his head round to his son. Glaring at his father, Sirius stepped back from his carnage and left the room to head up the stairs.

The door to his father’s office was an ominous one, as he stood before it. He didn’t have to go in. He could grab some stuff and leave out the window of his room on his broom, never to return. But where would he go? He had nowhere. He couldn’t intrude on Andromeda like that, not when she had a kid.

He pushed open the black door and entered the office. It was reminiscent of the Slytherin Common Room, but felt even darker, murkier, spookier. He hated the room. It held so much pain. If he closed his eyes and listen hard enough, he could hear his screams and feel the tears of his younger self.

_‘You stupid little boy.’_

_‘No, father, I didn’t mean t-’_

_‘You thought I wouldn’t find out. I always find out, there is nothing in this house you can hide from me.’_

_‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’_

_‘You’re shrieks are pointless, go sit over there on that chair before I make you.’_

_‘No, please -’_

_‘Don’t you dare disobey me!’_

_Orion coldly raised his wand and forced a young Sirius onto the chair in front of him. With another flick of his wand, Sirius was bound to the chair with invisible ropes, unable to escape, unable to move. Unprotected and vulnerable._

_Sirius could feel the tears streaming down his face as his father loomed before him, unfaltering and scowling, wand at the ready. Sirius’s whimpers were loud, clear, and scared._

_‘_ Diffindo _,’ Orion growled, and Sirius could feel a large slash cut through his skin, blood already seeping out. He didn’t know how many he had gained this time. He could be in this office of terror for hours. And no one was there to help, as his soul was slowly beaten out of him at the cruel mercy of his father’s hand_

Sirius scrunched his eyes as he sat, willing the memory to disappear. He’d been sat in the office for quite some time, assuming that his father was keeping him in the office for safe keeping while all the family still remained in the house.

It felt like hours before he heard the door to the office slowly creak open. He didn’t bother turning to look, he knew his father’s tall, aristocratic figure was scanning his eyes over his son, waiting for the next move. Sirius felt a familiar chill overcome him.

‘Interesting show you put on, down there,’ Orion spoke, no louder than a whisper. The floorboards creaked under his polished shoes as he walked around the sofa to face his son, expression unreadable.

Sirius didn’t reply. He’d learned not to. All his father’s statements weren’t meant to replied to. If he was to answer back, it would only make what was awaiting him even worse.

‘You shouldn’t have spoken to your cousin like that. I assume you know it was very disrespectful.’

Sirius knew his father was attempting to rouse him, anger him, make him lose control. Orion was good at that, and his calming temper was always most unsettling. Sirius wasn’t going to let his father get to him. Not this time, and Orion could see it.

‘Get to the chair,’ Orion snarled, frustrated at the lack on eye contact his son was giving him. Sirius breathed out a deep sigh and finally looked into his father’s eyes, that were identical to his own. He glared up to Orion.

‘No.’

The word escaped Sirius lips before he could prevent them, leading to Orion’s eyes catching fire. His stare on Sirius was so intense that it almost made him cower, but he wouldn’t let him.

‘Boy, get to that chair, this instant. You know you’ve done wrong.’

‘No. I don’t deserve to get cut for standing up for what I believe in,’ Sirius worded bravely.

‘Fine,’ Orion said impassively, but Sirius knew those words were far from it.

Sirius was too slow to react as his father performed his favourite charm and ensnared his son in invisible ropes, smirking evilly. Sirius grunted in pain at the tightness of them and struggled as Orion grew closer.

‘You’re getting too brave for your own good. I have half a mind to keep you out of Hogwarts this year,’ Orion threatened, wand raised as he brought his face close to his first born child’s.

‘I dare you,’ Sirius chanted, making Orion’s smirk drop.

‘ _Crucio._ ’

Sirius felt pain, all-consuming, intense, unbearable pain envelop ever muscle, bone, and nerve in his body. He forgot where he was, the pin white-hot. He felt as though knives and needles, a whole matter of sharp objects were piercing every inch of his skin, his head bursting with pain. His screams bounced of the four walls of the office, screams that had never been present there before. They were no longer screams made up mostly of fear, but of torture, torture of Sirius’s first experience of the Cruciatus Curse.

He could feel the Severing Charm make his way onto his body, alleviating him from the pain of the Cruciatus Curse momentarily before it returned. He felt blinded by everything going on.

And then something snapped in his brain. He was suddenly filled with an overwhelming amount of hatred, a kind he had never felt before. He regained a slither of self-control and felt heat all over his body.

His arms fell loose, and he realised he realised he was no longer bound by the ropes. He opened his eyes to see his father’s eyes, wide open on him, as if in shock.

‘What in Merlin …’ Orion hushed before he shook himself back into his normal state, raising his wand again, but this time, Sirius was quicker.

‘ _Petrificus Totalus!’_ Sirius exclaimed, having managed to grab his own wand, and stop his father with the Full-Body Bind Curse. Orion froze and fell back into his desk.

Sirius stood and stared at him for a second before he became aware of the bleeding next to his eye. Wiping it with the back of his hand, he then rushed out of the office and to his room, grabbing a bag and shoving a few essentials in there, along with chucking on his leather jacket, making a riot of his room as he rushed about it.

‘Sirius Orion Black, what in Merlin’s name do you think you’re doing?’ Walburga suddenly appeared in his doorway, looking furious, wand at the ready.

‘Go to hell,’ Sirius hissed, still in pain form the torture he endured. Walburga glowered at him and began shooting curses at him that left marks on his body. He felt immune to them. He had experienced an Unforgivable Curse. The only thing worse than that was death. He had seen it all.

‘Get the fuck out of my way,’ Sirius growled as he shut over the rucksack and shoved his wand in his pocket, barging past Walburga. He thundered down the stairs the grand staircase of the House of Black, Walburga yelling profanities after him.

‘You leave and you’ll never set foot in this house again! I only have one son! YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE!’ were the last words Sirius held his mother yell at him.

Hitching his bag further up his back, he stormed down the outside steps of Grimmauld Place, turned left, and started wandering around the streets of London. After a while, his footsteps faltered, no longer slapping in at the pavement in anger.

Another emotion started to fill him. Dread.

Without thinking, he collapsed onto the pavement, the only thing illuminating the dark street being a small electric light above him. He couldn’t see more than three feet in front of him.

He hadn’t even looked at himself in the mirror before leaving but he was pretty sure he looked awful. What had he done? Where was he to go?

He now had no one, not even a hating family. He had no roof over his head, no money to his name. He was pretty sure his mother had blasted his portrait off the family tree by now. He wasn’t stupid. He’d known he’d been disowned.

But he couldn’t stay, not where they now felt comfortable using an Unforgivable Curse on him. He couldn’t go to Andromeda, not in this state he was in, he would scare little Nymphadora.

James. There was James. He didn’t need to stay there forever, he could be out of their hair as soon as they wanted him gone. But Euphemia was an ex-Healer, she could patch him up, give him a bed for a night. Yes he would go to James, his brother.

He didn’t want to risk turning into Padfoot and heading to James’s. It was a good bit away from London and he knew he was too weak, which for Sirius, was a big fact to admit to himself. He would never admit his weakness to anyone, rarely even James.

The Knight Bus. He would take the Knight Bus.

Sirius stuck his right arm out, wand in hand, and a large, purple, three-decker bus whipped around the corner of a building, almost knocking him over as it pulled up alongside it. He hopped on, muttering his destination to the conductor and threw himself on one of the beds. The conductor seemed rather taken aback by his appearance, but Sirius couldn’t care less. He wanted to suffer in peace.

It took around half an hour for them to get to Godric’s Hollow and for Sirius to finally get off the violent bus. He paid with the scraps of coins he had found in the rucksack and limped off. He was stood in front of the Potter’s house.

Could he do this to them? Could he be such a burden? He knew he had been before, many times in the past two years, but this felt different. This time he had nowhere to go back to.

Convincing himself that this was his best option, he finally managed to put one foot in front of the other and step the gate to the path that led up to the familiar red door. His breath still shallow from what he had endured and his eyes drooping from pain and tiredness, he wanted to fall down on the floor and curl up in a ball. He reached out his fist and chapped on the door. He was barely conscious by now.

His head drooped as he waited for the door to open. It squeaked and Sirius saw James, horrified at the Sirius he was looking at. The Black boy fell in and could feel himself be moved but he didn’t want to open his eyes anymore. He felt Euphemia’s hands on him, but he had no energy anymore. He was so exhausted.

‘Sirius. You’re safe. You’re home.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't know how much I can say about this chapter. I read it back just before posting to weed out any typos and it left me a bit winded. It's a difficult chapter, I think. I'm glad he's out of their now, as crazy as it seems, I care so much about all my characters.   
> All your comments and engagement over the past two chapters have been absolutely wonderful. I was feeling in a bit of a slump for the past two weeks, but you've truly inspired me to continue writing now, so please never stop commenting, no matter if it's criticism or compliments, I love them all and they all help make me a better writer. I wholeheartedly appreciate all of it :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	38. Godric's Safe Haven

Euphemia Potter had never felt more scared than she did in this moment. She had a sixteen year old child in front of her on her sofa, in so much pain that she was worried if he was even going to make it through the night. Clear marks of the Cruciatus Curse lay on his skin and the constant whimpers escaping his lips were that of none other.

She was furious. He was sixteen. He had his whole life ahead of him. A few cuts were so deep that she was pretty sure he was only feeling the pain of them now that the adrenaline was wearing off. He couldn’t open his eyes and she was shaking. As she placed a lukewarm towel to his forehead, she noticed how her own slim hands were trembling from all she was experiencing.

She couldn’t stop looking at him. She couldn’t leave his side. She couldn’t even feel when her husband’s comforting hand clamped around her shoulder. Sirius was asleep by this point from exhaustion, but she knew it wouldn’t be long before the nightmares started.

‘Are you sure we shouldn’t take him to St Mungo’s?’ Fleamont’s voice travelled into her ears. Euphemia didn’t think she had ever heard him sound so vulnerable.

Euphemia shook her head. ‘Where’s James?’

‘He’s in the kitchen, with Effie. He’s had quite the shock, I think he just needed a little break,’ Fleamont answered, his grip tightening on his wife’s shoulder.

‘He should be getting to bed, get some sleep,’ Euphemia said tearfully. She hadn’t allowed her tear ducts to open the floodgates that were waiting to break free.

She felt so guilty. Guilty that she hadn’t taken action sooner and that she’d allowed for Sirius’s situation to get to this point. She should have taken him away quicker, no matter the repercussions for herself. She had lived her life, and Sirius deserved to live his without torture. She was well-lived enough to know she couldn’t blames herself for what happened, but she couldn’t help it. The best thing she could do now is make this child’s life brilliant for the rest of her own.

‘Mia, you need sleep too,’ Fleamont suggested tentatively, but Euphemia shook her head forcefully.

‘No. I’m not leaving him. I can’t. We’ll get him up to the guest bedroom and I’m staying with him all night. Merlin knows what he’s going to dream of tonight,’ Euphemia’s voice shook as she spoke. How dare they? How dare they do this to a child that was well enough her own son?

‘Okay,’ Fleamont said, his voice full of understanding. ‘Let’s get him up, at least, it’ll allow you to get more comfortable as well.’

‘I don’t deserve to be comfortable. Not after what he’s been through,’ Euphemia degraded herself.

‘Mia -’

‘No, Monty! We should have _been_ there! We should have been there for him, saved him, got him away from those retched people. He’s sixteen, Monty. _Sixteen!_ ’ Euphemia cried out, the tears finally falling.

Fleamont crouched down next to his wife and held her, pulled her head against his chest in attempts to comfort. James, hearing the cries, stepped into the lounge and observed the scene before him.

Needless to say, he was angry too. His best friend, his brother, was lying on his couch after an agonising suffering inflicted by his own family, the people who, at his birth, should have sworn to protect him at all costs, not be the reason for his pain.

‘James, son, get to bed,’ Fleamont said, trying to shield his wife’s crying face as James’s own eyes started to prick with tears.

‘Even if I was to go to bed, I wouldn’t get any sleep,’ James replied honestly. His father nodded with kind acceptance. The kind Sirius was never gifted with.

‘I’m sorry, Jamie. Monty, can you get Sirius up?’ Euphemia breathed shakily, wiping her face in attempts to cover the blotchiness. 

‘Of course, my dear,’ Fleamont said and kissed the top of his wife’s head before standing up.

Fleamont was elderly, even by wizarding standards, and by being so, considered fragile. However, Fleamont was strong, and he summoned his strength as he hooked his arms underneath the sleeping boy on the sofa and lifted him up, carrying him up the stairs to the room that the boy had spent so many nights in before. But this time was different. It was no longer the guest room. It was Sirius’s room. Fleamont wouldn’t have it any other way.

Euphemia followed up soon after and entered the room with James and a cup of tea in her hand. The three Potter’s sat around Sirius, who was currently still sleeping soundly, though the twitches in his sore muscles unmistakable.

‘He’s not going back, is he? You won’t let him?’ James asked timidly, looking up to his parents faces at the other side of the bed. The two of the returned his gaze with sad smiles.

‘Not in a million years, Jamie. He’s not going back to that house. Not ever,’ Euphemia said firmly, moving over to grab her sons hand and squeezing it.

The two boys left, and Euphemia stayed in the room, incapable of allowing herself to leave. She had to stay there, to protect Sirius, keep him out of harm’s way in any possible way she could. She watched as he went through the nightmares, screamed, whimpered, and cried through them. It killed her that she couldn’t wake him up, as that would be dangerous, but there was also no way to make them go away. She’d brew him some Dreamless Sleep Potion tomorrow, to make the concept of sleeping easier for him. She had treated those with shell-shock before. She had a feeling Sirius would be one of the worst cases she’d ever seen.

The strange thing was, he hadn’t woken up from the dreams, almost as though his body was forcing him to go through it, preventing him from finding release in that fact what he was dreaming wasn’t real. And it ripped Euphemia apart. She couldn’t let him wake up alone.

The sun was strong on Sirius’s eyes as he strained them open. He was still exhausted, and a fear of dread instantly filled his chest as he realised where he was. The white sheets were crisp and fresh, with a distinct smell. It was a mix of the Potter’s scent with a clean perfume. Marlene McKinnon’s perfume, from when she slept in the bed.

‘Sirius?’ Euphemia’s sweet voice filled his ears. He lifted his head slightly to see a worn out Mrs Potter staring back at him.

‘What time is it?’ he asked huskily, that being the thought that jumped into his head. He could have been asleep for months for all he knew. His head was still pounding.

‘It’s two in the afternoon, sweetheart,’ Euphemia responded kindly. A bullet of guilt struck through Sirius’s chest. He shouldn’t be spoken to like that. He didn’t deserve it.

‘Mia. I am so sorry,’ Sirius stated as he sat up, still squinting in the light. Euphemia’s forehead instantly creased from his words. ‘I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible.’

‘Sirius, don’t you dare starting spouting nonsense, I won’t allow it,’ Euphemia argued, moving closer to him on the bed. ‘I won’t let you leave, you’ll stay here -’

‘Euphemia, this isn’t like last time.’

‘I know that.’

‘I have nowhere else to go, don’t you understand!’ Sirius lost his temper, the level of his voice making him wince due to hi sore head. ‘And I can’t stay here. I can’t put you under that sort of pressure, I can’t just allow you to take me on as a second son. That’s not fair on you.’

Euphemia blinked at him. She looked unfazed by him shouting at her. She was glad he did shout at her, lose his temper towards her. It made them seem far more like family. Like he was her son, like he belonged to her. It warmed her soul.

‘Sirius, I don’t care how long you need or want to stay here for. I love you, very much. And I am not going to let you wander the streets looking for a bed every night. You belong here, with us, with James. You two boys are brothers, and if you think James of all people will accept anything other than you staying here, then you’re delusional. We _love_ you,’ Euphemia emphasised. She watched as Sirius wall broke down before her, his eyes began shining with tears. He looked away, somewhat embarrassed.

‘You’ll change your mind soon enough,’ he muttered under his breath, but Euphemia chose to ignore it. She knew he wasn’t used to hearing those three words, those nine letters.

‘I’ll tell James that you’re awake,’ she said softly and stood up to exit the room, leaving Sirius resting against the headboard.

Sirius sat there for a few moments on his own, trying to soak everything in. He was sat in the one place where he knew he felt safe, but he knew he couldn’t stay. He couldn’t burden the Potter’s in that way, no matter what they said. It wasn’t fair on them to burden them with someone so damaged as he was. He was unlovable, and he knew it.

The door creaked open yet again and he watched his brother enter. Sirius had never seen James look so worried, yet so relieved at the same time. It slowed down the panic in Sirius’s heart slightly.

‘You alright, Pads,’ James asked, but his neck twitched slightly as he said it. It seemed a pointless question.

‘As good as I can be,’ Sirius replied as he felt the mattress raise underneath him as James sat down on it.

‘Of course,’ James nodded. There was a silence for a second, where they appreciated each other’s company. They felt safe around each other, the whole world could come at them, but as long as they had each other, they could be brave. ‘You gave us quite a scare last night, mate,’ James added with a chuckle. 

‘Yeah, sorry. Heads still aching a bit,’ Sirius replied, unable to sum up the energy for a chuckle in response, or to even twitch the corners of his mouth into half a smile.

‘You in the mood to talk about it? What happened? You turned up rough,’ James finally spoke what was on his mind, without sugar-coating it. Sirius had always liked that about James. He was a very blunt person, without a liking for bullshitters.

‘I don’t think I’m quite ready to yet, Prongs,’ Sirius replied honestly, avoiding eye contact. James nodded.

‘Fair enough, I’ll bring you up some food if you want? Effie’s made some banging toad-in-the-hole for lunch,’ James grinned, making Sirius exhale sleepily.

‘Nah, it’s alright, I’ll come down. I’m no patient, I need to pull my weight,’ Sirius said stubbornly, pushing himself up of the bed, only making James roll his eyes.

‘Only you, Pads,’ James chuckled, offering a hand, which Sirius took, much to James’s surprise. It wasn’t like Sirius to show weakness to anyone. The only person James knew Sirius to show it to was James himself, but it still caught him by surprise every now and again.

They ate lunch in the living room, with Effie being more particular to Sirius than she ever had been before. Her cuteness was one of the only things that managed to lift Sirius’s mood enough to perform half a smile. They spent most of the day on the sofas, under fluffy blankets and drinking a variety of beverages. Sirius was slowly starting recover from his ordeal, physically at least. Emotionally, he knew he hadn’t processed it. He didn’t want to.

Euphemia and Fleamont had to head out for the night. They had a fancy dinner party at the Ministry that they need to attend to. Euphemia looked gorgeous in a deep green, floor length dress and Fleamont in bottle-green dress robes. Euphemia looked about as eager to leave as though someone told her she was going to watch an execution.

‘Are you two boys sure you’ll be okay on your own, your father can always go stag,’ Euphemia asked yet again as she pulled on her coat. Her words made James giggle.

‘ _Yes,_ mum, we’ll be fine, nothing bad is going to happen!’ James exasperated as Fleamont was finishing cuffing his sleeves.

‘Euphemia, I’m sure the boys can look after themselves for one night, we won’t even be gone that long. We’ll be there to eat, socialise a little bit and then we’ll be back before you know it,’ Fleamont interjected to convince her, before opening the front door. ‘Now, let’s go.’

‘Okay, we’ll be back soon. Bye boys,’ Euphemia said, her protectiveness shining through.

The two of them left, cautiously locking the door behind them, leaving James and Sirius to their rounds.

The hours flew by quickly. The two of them played a mixture of Gobstones and Exploding Snap, in between which, Effie made them dinner and numerous amounts of hot chocolate. Sirius felt a warmth in him that he hadn’t felt since he left Hogwarts for the summer. He felt safe and protected, as though nothing could hurt him.

‘Hey, did you see that light out there?’ James asked out of the blue as he peered out the windows, grabbing Sirius attention.

‘A light?’ Sirius questioned in confusion, shifting to see out of James’s eyeline better.

The front door shattered in pieces across the living room, James and Sirius shielding their heads from the impact of the shards of wood flying in their direction, sparks blasting.

Sirius and James looked back to see the looming figure of Orion Black standing in the doorway, his eyes livid and his hand clutching his wand so tightly that in anger that his knuckles had turned white. His nostrils were flared, and his breathing portrayed his ferocity.

‘You think you can curse me and leave without us coming after you! You are _far_ more idiotic than I brought ANY of my sons up to be!’ Orion roared, his voice bouncing of the walls and vibrating through Sirius’s body. He had never seen his father so blatantly enraged, and it terrified him.

‘Get the fuck out of this house, you’re in no way welcome here!’ James yelled back bravely, but Orion ignored him, his glare only focused on Sirius.

‘You thought you could run away to blood traitors and we wouldn’t find you? HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE THE FAMILY NAME, YOU ARE THE BIGGEST DISGRACE THE HOUSE OF BLACK HAS EVER SEEN!’ Orion thundered, charging towards Sirius in fury and grabbing him by the collar of his t-shirt.

‘Get off him!’ James yelled, a panic settling within his stomach that he’d never felt before. As much as he’d like to, he couldn’t take Orion on, he was far too powerful.

Still clutching Sirius’s shirt, Orion raised his wand threateningly at his son, no remorse present in his stance.

‘Get away from my son,’ a calm, almost lazy voice arose in the room and before Orion could react, he was thrown to the other edge of the room, dropping Sirius back to the sofa as Fleamont stared daggers at him. Orion spluttered in shock before scrambling back up, stumbling in the process.

‘You have no right to tell me how to raise my son! Now he is going back to the house where he belongs!’ Orion yelled, prepared to march over back to Sirius where Euphemia was now cradling him, but Fleamont blocked his path.

‘You’re going to do nothing of the sort,’ Fleamont spoke softly, but with a definite, threatening undertone. ‘Now, you are going to leave my home and never come back. And if you ever lay a _finger_ on my son again, life is not going to be pretty for you, Black.’

Orion glared furiously at the scene in the room before him, before locking his eyes on his eldest son’s. For the first time, he saw the hatred that lay in the grey eyes that were identical to his. Pure hatred.

‘Fine,’ Orion gasped. ‘You deal with him, he can be your problem. He’s never to contact or be near my family ever again, including his brother. If I catch wind that he’s so much as even glanced at Regulus, you’ll all be sorry,’ he spat, sending one last glare to his now disowned son, and stormed out of the house, his cloak billowing behind him. Fleamont glared at his retreating figure, knowing that there would no longer be an issue with the Black family. Sirius was theirs. He was where he belonged.

‘Can I stay? For good?’ Sirius trembled. 

In a fit of rage, Walburga had scorched Sirius portrait off the family, just like she had with Andromeda’s. She had done that the night he left. His name was still there, but his face was gone. She sat in the room with a cup of coffee, a heavy feeling in her heart.

Sirius had destroyed her, irritated the living daylights out of her and embarrassed her to no means. But he’d never left. That was the first time he’d left, for what seemed like good, with all his skewed opinions and values.

She heard the front door close, signalling that Orion was home. He had been enraged ever since Sirius had disappeared from the face of her house. She had been weary of exchanging two words with him.

She ran out of the tapestry room to see Orion taking his cloak off in the hallway. She stared down to the man she didn’t love. The man that was arranged for her, who made her bear his children. One of those children who had now ran away. She tried to see behind him. There was no one there.

‘Well?’ she asked him coldly, raising her eyebrows in question. Orion stared back at her, his face expressionless.

Orion shook his head. ‘He’s not coming back, and I wouldn’t let him in my house if he was,’ he replied morbidly and stormed past her up to the first floor of the house and slammed the door to his office. Walburga couldn’t speak. Her breath had caught in her throat and she blinked heavily as she stared after her husband.

Regulus leaned back from the stairway railings and pulled his legs into his chest as he sat in the darkness. He was alone. Sirius had gone and he had no one. He heard his mother’s heels click their way back to some room downstairs, away from his father. This house fell silent, cold. He turned his head in the direction of a door. _Sirius Orion Black._

Regulus snorted. That nameplate was a joke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello :)  
> In all honestly, I'm not too sure what to say this week, or for this chapter, other than, I hope you enjoyed it and are enjoying the whole story so far. I'm starting to get ready to head off for uni and stuff, so if my uploads start coming out a little later in the day, i do apologise, i just have so many forms and other requirements to fill out, that time slips away from me :)  
> Hope you're all doing well,   
> Love, Julia xx


	39. Family

The rest of the summer passed somewhat quickly for James as he awoke on one of the last days of the summer holidays before returning to school. He had his best mate with him for a long duration of it, which was brilliant, and even though Sirius hadn’t been himself for most of it, he was slowly returning to normal. By this point, he was his usual self and the Potter’s were treating him better than he could have asked for. He was glad to be out of the House of Black.

James stretched happily in his bed, yawning as the sun encouraged him to make the most of the day. Marlene was arriving today, as she always did, for the Potter’s to take her to Kings Cross. James’s plan had been for them to have a little bonfire when she arrived, but now Sirius was here, it would be better than James could have imagined.

Sirius had said that he would be able to face Grimmauld Place one last time to collect his things and get out of there as quickly as possible, but Euphemia wouldn’t hear of it, which James was glad of. They went to London and refurbished Sirius with all that he needed, including clothes, books, and other things required for Hogwarts, before their school letters came in for the new year. Sirius couldn’t have been more grateful if he tried and they’d spent the summer decorating his new room at the Potter’s, solidifying that this was where he now lived.

For the first time in his life, Sirius felt truly wanted. He had a family that wanted him and cared for him, something he didn’t think he was capable or allowed to have. His new room covered in Gryffindor colours and a variety of girls on motorbikes that Euphemia chose to ignore, he was happy, despite the scars that still littered his body.

Jumping out of bed and pulling on a pair of tracksuit bottoms, James trudged down the stairs to the kitchen for some breakfast to find that Sirius and Euphemia were already sat at that table, laughing over something the other that said.

‘Morning, sleepy-head,’ Sirius smirked condescendingly, James flipping him off in the process as he sat down at the table, Effie rushing to give him his usual glass of morning orange juice.

‘James, language,’ Euphemia warned as she continued reading her magazine, the WWN playing in the background. James recognised that it was Dorcas’s favourite band, _Spellbound,_ gracing their morning.

‘I didn’t even say anything,’ James grumbled, grabbing a piece of toast.

‘What are you so depressed about?’ Sirius asked as he spooned some more cereal into his mouth.

‘OWL results come in today,’ James reminded them all. Most new sixth years had been anxiously awaiting the future defining letter to arrive any day now, along with a list of books for the new year and a welcome back letter. James, despite knowing that he had probably done quite well in his exams, still felt that uncomfortable knot of apprehensiveness in his stomach, nervous for what was to come.

‘Oh, relax, you would have done fine, we all have,’ Sirius wafted him off, exuberating confidence. James knew he was probably worrying for no reason, but that didn’t mean he was worrying any less.

‘Besides, no matter what happens, there’s nothing you can do to change it now,’ Euphemia said, trying to be helpful, but James only sent her a scowl.

‘You know that’s _literally_ the worst thing you can say to someone who’s waiting for results,’ James said in a deadpan manner, to which Euphemia simply shrugged nonchalantly while Sirius chuckled.

‘You’ve done well, mate, don’t worry,’ Sirius continued to reassure him, just as the screech of an owl sounded and flew into the kitchen, landing on the table. Clearly a Hogwarts owl, it dropped the letters before ruffling its feathers self-importantly and flying back out the window.

James picked them up, noticing there were two addressed to Sirius too and handed it to him.

‘Oh, is mine here? I would’ve thought it’d get sent to Grimmauld Place,’ Sirius took the letter, but James noticed the slight twitch in Sirius’s eye as he mentioned where he used to live.

‘Dumbledore must know you’re here, Sirius. Doesn’t miss a thing, that man,’ Euphemia said proudly.

James shakily tore open the wax seal of his first envelope, the one that was sent from the _WEA (Wizarding Examinations Authority)_ and pulled out the thick parchment upon which his grades were imprinted. His eyes scanned the letter and he felt a breath of relief escape his lungs. He had done well, at least in what he wanted to do well in.

‘Well?’ Euphemia pressed. ‘How did you do?’

‘I got Outstanding’s in almost everything, except for Exceeds Expectations in History of Magic and Astronomy, and I got a Dreadful in Divination,’ James snorted at the last subject he mentioned. He already knew he’d do awfully in that.

‘Jamie, that’s incredible! Congratulations!’ Euphemia cheered as she caught his head and planted a large kiss in his hair, to which James protested with a _‘Gerroff me!’_

‘Prongs, how did you get Exceeds Expectations in Astronomy with me as your best mate?’ Sirius teased, grinning as he clutched his own set of marks.

‘What about you, then, what did you get?’ James asked, refusing to be bullied any further.

‘Outstanding’s in everything except for an Exceeds Expectations in Care of Magical Creatures and a Dreadful in Divination,’ Sirius boasted, to which Euphemia also exclaimed happily and kissed the top of his head, and action Sirius reacted to with less animosity than James.

‘How in Merlin’s name did you get an O in History of Magic, you showed up to the exam drunk!’ James exasperated, laughing heavily as Euphemia started scolding Sirius, to which he only giggled.

‘It’s just one of those gifts, you know,’ Sirius chuckled with a wink and moved on to open the second letter, which included the new list of books they required and other essentials. ‘ _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6,_ typical,’ Sirius scoffed as he read through it.

‘Holy shit,’ James muttered, catching Sirius’s attention as he read through his own letter. Sirius noticed that James was holding something rather shiny in his hand.

‘What is it?’ Sirius asked curiously, straining his neck over the table. James looked up to meet his eyes with a look of excited disbelief.

‘Rumsfeld made me Quidditch Captain,’ James exhaled, watching as Sirius produced a grin so wide that it almost tickled his ears. James was absolutely ecstatic.

‘YES, Prongs, get in!’ Sirius yelled happily, rushing over to catch James in an affectionate chokehold and ruffle his hair from excitement while Euphemia rushed back into the kitchen, having left it not expecting anymore commotion.

‘What’s happened, what’s going on?’ she asked, looking rather comical with a watering can in her hand that she used to water the flowers in the house. She liked greenery.

‘James just got Quidditch Captain!’ Sirius exclaimed while James held up the badge for his mother to see. Euphemia cried out with happiness and caught James in a hug once more before yelling to Fleamont for him to get out of his office and into the kitchen.

‘I’m here, I’m here, what is it?’ he asked, disorientated as he took off his glasses to clean them with the edge of his shirt.

‘James was awarded Quidditch Captain!’ Euphemia exclaimed before James could say from excitement and a grin broke out on Fleamont’s face.

‘Bloody hell, congratulations, son!’ Fleamont applauded, ruffling his sons messy hair. James gave him the badge to admire. ‘You get your name on the shield now.’

‘It’s so cool,’ Sirius said as his face hurt from smiling for the overwhelming joy he felt for his friend as he inspected the red and gold badge.

‘We’ll definitely get you that bonfire up and running for you three as a celebration tonight!’ Fleamont said as he picked up James’s exam results letter, also grinning grades.

‘The three of us?’ Sirius asked, confused by the number Fleamont had stated.

‘Oh, did James not mention?’ Euphemia queried, Sirius shaking his head as a response. ‘Marlene always joins us around this time of year before you all head to Hogwarts so she’s not having to travel from Scotland on the day. She should be due in a few hours now.’

‘Oh, I’m really sorry then, I won’t mind giving her my bed to sleep in for the next few nights. I know she usually sleeps in that one when she’s over here,’ Sirius offered, but Euphemia waved him off.

‘Nonsense, darling, I’ll set Marlene up, don’t you worry. That’s your bedroom now, you’re not giving it up for anyone,’ Euphemia stated firmly. ‘Now go, get dressed, the both of you! It’s a lovely day outside, don’t waste it!’

The two teenagers got dressed and grabbed their brooms before running out into the large backyard. They had spent the remainder of the summer flying on their brooms, messing about in the town and practicing Quidditch techniques, which would be coming in very useful now that James was Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor.

Just as they were feeling their stomachs start to rumble for lunch, a cheery voice soared into their ears from six feet below them, distracting them from their flying.

‘Hey idiots, your lunch is almost ready!’ Marlene’s teasing, Scottish voice shouted up at them as she squinted her eyes to look up at them through the sun’s rays. She was wearing a pretty, white sundress and sandals, her skin looking noticeable tanned and blonde curls even lighter.

‘Marls!’ James laughed as he flew down, Sirius following him, and enveloped the McKinnon girl in a large bear hug.

‘Hey, Quidditch Captain, congratulations!’ Marlene laughed as James spun her around in greeting. He stepped back before continuing the conversation.

‘Cheers, how did you know?’ James grinned in return, grabbing the broomstick he’d thrown onto the floor.

‘You mum told me as I came in,’ Marlene smiled, before turning her blue eyes to Sirius. ‘Hey, you, what are you doing here?’ she said to him, leaning into a hug which Sirius gladly returned.

‘Yeah, I kind of live here now,’ Sirius said bashfully, meeting her eyes. The blue in hers softened as she understood his predicament easily and smiled in return.

‘So I take it you’re settling into my bed well,’ Marlene teased cheekily, choosing now to dwell on the difficult aspect of Sirius move for too long. Today was supposed to be a happy day.

Sirius smirked. ‘You ain’t getting it back if that’s what you’re getting at,’ he winked, making her scoff.

‘I wouldn’t want to, it’s got your germs on it now, Merlin knows what’s going on down there,’ Marlene panned her gaze down to his crotch and back up, making Sirius gasp loudly.

‘You two need to stop with the STD jokes,’ James interjected, rolling his eyes at his two friends constant back and forth.

‘And if you, as Captain, even _dream_ of ever getting us up as early for practice as Rumsfeld did, you won’t be able to play in the first Quidditch match,’ Marlene threatened playfully as she moved them all to sit down on the grass next to that grew up the garden fence of the Potter’s back garden as bees circled around them cheerfully.

‘Oh, you’ll be getting up at four in the morning on my watch, with extra sits ups and press ups,’ James taunted, making his two friends groan.

‘You are evil, Potter,’ Sirius stated, lying down on his back, soaking in the sun. Marlene couldn’t help but admire for a second how much he’d grown and matured over the summer, a light stubble starting grow along his jaw.

‘I will need your help at try-out’s, though, we’ve got a new Beater and Keeper to find,’ James said, playing with a notch of grass.

‘Aww, Prongsie, you keeping us all on?’ Sirius teased in a sickly sweet voice, poking at James’s ribs before James slapped him away.

‘Yes, you’re all good players, I wouldn’t want anyone else on my team, you happy?’ James spoke emotionlessly while Sirius grinned cheekily at him.

‘Very,’ Sirius winked.

‘I’m going to miss Ciaran and Matt. So you still keeping on Tate?’ Marlene asked, somewhat nonchalantly as she moved her face to the sun, but it made James narrow his eyes at her and Sirius prop himself up onto his elbows in curiosity.

‘Edward? Yeah, he’s a fantastic Chaser, why?’ James queried, not falling for her bullshit of feigned innocence.

‘No reason,’ Marlene replied simply.

‘Did something happen?’ Sirius asked, furrowing his brows.

‘I did notice he was a bit sweet on you last year, not that you’d ever go for someone like him,’ James added in agreement, but Marlene simply rolled her eyes.

‘No, it’s nothing, I know he’s a fantastic Chaser, I was just curious. Now come on, I’m hungry, I’ve not eaten anything all day!’ Marlene changed the subject, jumping up and heading into the house for the lunch that Effie prepared for them. Sirius and James exchanged glances.

‘What do you think that’s about?’ Sirius asked.

‘No idea,’ James shrugged.

The day passed them quickly. After lunch, they returned to some Quidditch practice and lazed around until it started to get dark. Fleamont began to start lighting up the bonfire pit that existed down the bottom of the garden, surrounded by a nice, sheltered canopy roof while Marlene grabbed some marshmallows and sticks from the kitchen for them to roast. Fleamont left the to it as the three teenagers chatted and laughed around the fire about various aspects of the new year and what awaited them by the dancing flames.

‘We get Apparition lessons this year,’ James reminded them as he struggled to eat the melting marshmallow he’d just roasted. His difficulty was probably added by the fact the three of them had managed to sneak a few bottles of Firewhisky and were making their way through them joyously.

‘It’s fucking scandalous that they make us pay extra for that,’ Marlene chortled as she put a bottle to her lips. She’d missed they fiery sensation as it travelled down her throat. Sirius couldn’t help but notice how pretty she looked, illuminated by the firelight. His eyes wandered down her longs legs and back as he sat in the shadows.

‘Careful, McKinney, next you’ll be saying that it’s awful the house elves don’t get paid,’ Sirius chimed, making the blonde giggle.

‘Oh, they love it there, I’d never complain about that,’ she answered as she sat back up from her lying position. Her eyes settled on James.

‘Why are you staring at me?’ James asked, amused by her stance. ‘Come on, spit it out.’

‘What Lily Evans plans has James Potter got for this year?’ Marlene hiccupped as she asked, stealing the marshmallow that he had just spent the last five minutes meticulously roasting while he struggled to eat the last one. James had an insatiable sweet tooth.

He groaned, both at the Lily comment and at his marshmallow being stolen. ‘Nothing, I’m leaving it,’ James grumbled, fixing his glasses that had gone askew. Sirius gasped loudly, exaggerated by the alcohol in his system.

‘James Beatrice Potter without a Lily Evans game plan! That’s unheard of!’ Sirius chuckled, taking a swig of Firewhisky. James glared at him.

‘That’s not my middle name and you know it.’

‘Seriously, James, what’s up? You always have a new bank of ideas on how to get Lily,’ Marlene insisted as she sidled closer to him. James sighed, unwilling to discuss the subject.

‘I’ve tried for five fucking years. It’s pretty clear she doesn’t like me! Besides, her dad died this year, I don’t want to be annoying her any more than I usually do. From now on, I’m just going to focus on being friends with her,’ James voiced his thoughts, causing the other two to fall silent. He knew, after all, he’d rather have Lily as a friend that not have her in his life at all.

James had grown up. He was done with trying all the silly pranks and antics in a bid to win Lily’s attention. If they hadn’t worked all those years before, they certainly weren’t going to start working now. Having not seen her all summer gave him time to reflect. He was done. After the way Lily had spoken to him at the end of last year when they’d targeted Snape, he was done. He couldn’t get her words out of his head. She had said that James was just as bad as Snape. No better than a prejudiced Slytherin. It had cut him to the core.

James was over the grand gestures and feeble attempts to get her attention. If she wanted to be friends then great, and he simply had to accept it was nothing more. No matter how much he fancied her, it was never going to happen. It was _time_ for him to grow up. He had been putting it off, he knew it, but after Sirius arriving the way he did, he knew they were no longer kids. And it was time to stop acting like one, especially on the Lily front.

‘Damn,’ Sirius said, shocked at his best friend’s word. He never thought he’d see the day that James Potter would give up on Lily Evans. But, in a sense, he was also glad. He had watched his best friend pine over a girl that had been nothing but cruel to him for years, and he was over it. It was time for James to stop hurting.

‘How is Lily? About her dad?’ James asked Marlene, who bit her lip at the question.

‘As well as she can be, really. She’s been crying a lot this summer, basically locked herself away for most of it. I only saw her for the first time a few days ago, and that’s the first time anyone has seen her. She’s rough, but she’s strong. She’ll fight through it,’ Marlene replied, essentially paraphrasing what Remus had said to James a few weeks ago.

‘Everything feels like it’s gone to shit,’ Sirius said, latching eyes with Marlene while James hummed in agreement. She seemed to have gotten prettier over the summer, even since he’d last seen her. He watched her swallow before she tore their gaze.

‘We just need to try and make the most of this year,’ Marlene said, finishing the last drop in her bottle of Firewhisky. ‘I feel like there’s a storm coming. We better be ready for it.’

‘What makes you say that?’ James asked.

‘My dad basically hasn’t left the Ministry all summer. He doesn’t smile or laugh anymore. He’s loaded with paperwork or away on some mission. And anytime he does say something, it’s always in this hushed voice, telling my mum secrets. He’s said something about people disappearing and keeping it out of the press,’ Marlene explained.

‘Why would they want to keep that out of the _Prophet?’_ Sirius asked, and the blonde shrugged to his question.

‘I couldn’t tell you, but I wish they’d stop hiding things. They keep treating us like children, scared to tell us what’s going on. It pisses me off,’ she mumbled.

Sirius was laying on his back, hands behind his head once they’d all gone to bed. He couldn’t sleep after what Marlene had said. He’d heard hushed whispers going about his house as well, back at Grimmauld Place, but then his family was never one to talk loudly of things, so he never thought twice about it. Now, he was wishing he’d paid more attention.

He heard his door creak and raised himself onto his elbows slightly. He pushed his hair out of his eyes to see more clearly.

‘Hey.’ He said as he watched James close the door behind him and pad over to his bed, climbing on it. ‘Couldn’t sleep?’

‘Nah, not really. Can’t get my mind to stop buzzing,’ James admitted, Sirius nodding in agreement.

‘I get you,’ Sirius said. He heard James’s breath hitch in preparation to say something, but he seemed nervous to.

‘I need you to promise me something,’ James rushed out, confusing the boy in front of him.

‘Anything,’ Sirius said, brows furrowed.

‘I need you to promise me you’ll leave Marlene alone,’ James declared, taking Sirius back with the announcement.

‘What -’

‘I don’t mean it in the sense that you can’t be friends,’ James interrupted him, continuing his own train of thought, ‘but just, don’t _try_ anything with her, if you get me.’

‘James -’

‘I just know what you’re like,’ James dropped his head, almost as though he was ashamed of what he was saying. ‘And I don’t think you’d ever hurt her on purpose, but I _know_ what you’re like. I don’t want her getting hurt.’

‘You -’

‘I know she’s a big girl and she can handle herself, but I’m her brother. I’m supposed to protect her. I saw the way you looked at her tonight, and I just can’t deal with it, I had to say something. I couldn’t deal with it if you fucked her. So promise me.’

‘James -’

‘Swear it!’ James demanded, yet again, his eyes serious as they stared Sirius down. Sirius had never seen James ask for something of him so profusely.

‘I swear,’ Sirius said through his teeth while a pang of guilty conscience ran through him. James nodded in appreciation.

‘Cheers, Padfoot. I’m grateful, truly,’ James stood up and patted Sirius on the shoulder before heading out of the room ‘Night.’

‘Night.’

Sirius fell back into the pillows, a deep sigh escaping his chest. He had never lied to James before, and he didn’t plan to lie to him again. He would keep his promise, no matter what. He knew why James wanted him to stay away from Marlene. Everything Sirius touched turned to dust, and Sirius couldn’t do that to one of the people that brought the most light to his world. She had helped him get to James, to escape his home, and now he had to pay James back for what he was doing for him. And if that included never fucking Marlene McKinnon again, no matter how much he wanted to, then that’s a price he would pay. For his brother. The Potter’s were now his family. He was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's something about this chapter that I really like :) I was reading it back, just twiddling out the last few mistakes and I really enjoyed myself. I think it's just a big mix of things in it :)  
> So, tell me, what do you think about Sirius running away? And what do you think about the promise James made Sirius make, and will it last? ;) I'm truly intrigued, let me know what you're thinking :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	40. Rose Tinted Glasses

‘They’re not very subtle, are they?’

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had just made it into an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express, desperate to sit down after their long trek along the carriages. It was no secret that word of Sirius’s disownment had escaped the walls of Grimmauld Place and was slowly making it through the Hogwarts rumour mill.

‘Just leave them, let them talk. It’ll die out soon enough,’ Remus grumbled as he took a book out of his bag. He hadn’t wanted to tell the boys, but he had already been cornered by a group of fourth year girls, begging him to spill the gossip on Sirius’s situation. He had politely told them to fuck off.

‘You do seem to be a rather unlucky generation of Black’s, don’t you? First Andromeda, now you,’ Peter spoke dreamily, leading to James glaring at him.

‘Fucking read the room, Wormtail,’ James scolded.

Sirius slumped back in his seat, sulking next to the window. He knew the news had to get out eventually, but he didn’t think it would be quite so soon and quite so explosive. He wouldn’t be surprised if there was already an article written in _Witch Weekly_ about him, gathering by how fast it was spreading.

‘McGonagall will put a stop to the gossip as soon as we’re back at the castle, I’m positive,’ Remus tried to reassure, more Sirius than anyone, but Sirius wasn’t too keen on taking complimentary advice.

‘Doesn’t matter anyway. It was bound to get out,’ Sirius said glumly and took one last stare at the rushing countryside before turning back to the boys. ‘How were the rest of your summers?’

‘Pretty decent,’ Remus replied. ‘Other than the full moon right at the end. I think I scratched more than usual.’

It was true, Remus did look exceptionally tired as he boarded the train on September first to start his sixth year. It was growing more and more difficult to stay contained in the tiny shed his parents had kept him in for his transformations all those years, especially since the boys had managed to let him out of the Shrieking Shack to run around last term.

‘What are you boys most looking forward to this year?’ Peter quizzed as they bought their tokens of sweets and delectable pastries from the trolley that swept the train, succumbing the hunger of students.

‘Turning seventeen. I’m ready to get that damn Trace off me,’ Sirius chuckled as he reached forward to grab a pumpkin pasty.

‘I’m so jealous that you get yours off in literally two months,’ James groaned as he sunk his teeth into a chocolate frog.

‘Just means you’re getting old,’ Remus chuckled as he stood up, stretching, ignoring the loud gasp from Sirius at the insult. ‘I’m heading off for the Prefect meeting, catch you later.’

‘I am _not_ getting old!’ Sirius exclaimed defiantly after Remus closed over the door to the carriage.

‘Speak for yourself, mate, I can practically hear those bones snapping,’ James chortled before yelping out as Sirius whacked him with the Marauders Map.

The rest of the train journey went quickly for them, with Remus re-joining them once they’d stepped onto the platform and headed for the horseless carriages.

‘That’s odd,’ Lily said to Marlene as they drew closer to their own horseless carriage to take them up to the castle. Except the carriage wasn’t horseless.

She wasn’t even sure she could call what stood before her a horse, it seemed too reptilian in nature. It resembled something between a bat and a pegasus, a black coat clinging to its skeleton, every bone and protruding joint visible. It had wide, white, unblinking eyes with no visible pupil and no visible flesh or muscle stabilising it. The creatures had heads akin to dragons, and vast, leathery, bat-like wings, producing an eerie aura. But what stood out to Lily the most was the darkness and gloom that seemed to surround it, but there was a sense of comfort as well. Like she wasn’t alone in the world.

‘What is?’ Marlene asked, still laughing over a joke that Alice had told a few moments ago, bringing her focus to Lily.

‘That … thing,’ Lily said, though her words came out as more of a question. She flicked her gaze to Marlene, who she watched frown as they gathered Alice’s and Dorcas’s attention.

‘Are you alright, Lils? I don’t see anything,’ Marlene replied, her confusion evident.

‘They’ve got something new pulling the carriage, can’t you see it!’ Lily, now confused herself, pointed at the creature in front of her, which scuffed its hooves as if in reply.

‘Nothing’s pulling the carriage, Lily,’ Alice chimed in, her brows furrowed. ‘It’s pulling itself, like always.’

Her confusion unsatisfied, Lily followed her three friends into the carriage, who were now sending her uncertain glances in the midst of their conversation that she was not contributing to.

Truthfully, Lily hadn’t spoken much at all since she’d got on the train, or before the train. The only person she’d spoken to in person that summer from her friends was Marlene. She was still gravely mourning her father’s death, and it showed. Her skin had lost its vibrance, and her hair its shine. She felt empty and cold, and the one person she truly wanted to talk too, the one she knew would understand above all else had called her a Mudblood in front of almost the entire school with no remorse.

‘Lily? We’re here,’ Dorcas said kindly, grabbing her hand. Lily allowed herself to be pulled out of the carriage before slipping her hand away and taking another look at the skeletal creatures that brought them to their destination. There was something special about them.

In her own thoughts, Lily felt herself be dragged up the grand marble staircase of the Hogwarts Entrance Hall and pushed into the Great Hall and into one of the benches. She didn’t fully regain consciousness until the Hall fell silent and the croaky voice of a tattered song filled the entirety of the banqueting area.

_‘I may not look like much to you,_

_but looks can be deceiving._

_I’ll tell you soon what colours,_

_you will surely be receiving._

_Their names are famous, even now,_

_though many years have passed._

_They always knew to what extent,_

_their legacy would last._

_They came together decades ago,_

_to teach their wisest thoughts._

_To a younger generation,_

_who would pass it one, unsought._

_Thus, a school of grandeur was established,_

_by the foursome, tried and true._

_But each admired specific traits,_

_the best of all they knew._

_The first was Godric Gryffindor,_

_the wearer of my time._

_He valued those with bravery,_

_held gallantry sublime._

_Next, was Helga Hufflepuff,_

_hard-working to the core._

_She knew justice and loyalty,_

_should be valued all the more._

_Then young Rowena Ravenclaw,_

_brought brilliance to the mix._

_She felt cleverness and wisdom,_

_were worth more than simple tricks._

_And Salazar of Slytherin,_

_knew just what he would need._

_He took those with ambition,_

_and the focus to succeed._

_A thousand years have come and gone,_

_since that became the way._

_But changed wrought in all the years,_

_have brought me here today._

_I should, however, warn you,_

_though cause we have to grin._

_I sense a danger here without,_

_and maybe too within._

_I’ve seen too many evils here,_

_in all my many years._

_To think I should dare ignore,_

_my deepest, darkest fears._

_My purpose here is to divide,_

_but please make no mistake._

_There is never any reason,_

_for which you should think to break,_

_the unity that held this school,_

_together all this time._

_For if you do, I fear for years,_

_when none will hear my rhyme._

_I implore to you a promise,_

_to keep your friendships strong and true._

_To help your fellow student,_

_for they may be helping you.’_

An ear-shattering boom of applause and cheer broke out as the Sorting Hat took its final breath of the song, the first years looking dazzled as they stared up to the singing headwear. This was one of the moments where they all missed one of McGonagall’s rare smiles, as they were too busy allowing themselves to be enchanted.

‘I swear that Hat gets more morbid every year,’ James grumbled, along with his stomach, which was now desperate for food, other than sweets.

‘It’s enjoying reminding us that we should all stick together lately,’ Remus murmured in agreement as he watched the first years curiously as they were sorted. He always enjoyed finding out what newcomers they were going to have to start dealing with.

‘Who’s the new guy?’ Dorcas leaned over to ask Remus, gesturing to the teachers table. Remus took his eyes off the Sorting and followed to where Dorcas was pointing.

He was a shabby looking man, with grey, worn out dress robes and horn rimmed glasses. Looking rather meek, he looked eager to blend into the background of teachers despite the fact that Dumbledore would soon be introducing him. He had grey hair than the original light brown he was born with and his hands were loosely interlocked on the table, his goblet already full of some red liquid Remus guessed to be wine.

‘I don’t know. But I don’t see Sallow anywhere, so maybe he’s the new Defence teacher?’ Remus offered, his voice lilting at the end. Hogwarts had never been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for more than three terms, and they were running out of people for the job.

‘You really don’t know who that is?’ Alice interjected with a hushed voice just as the Hat called out _‘RAVENCLAW!’_

‘Do you?’ Dorcas frowned, looking at the man again to see if she could scrounge a better look at him.

‘He was all over the _Prophet_ about a decade ago, but it’s a bloody good story. Rudolf Sarras. American Auror,’ Alice spoke the sentence increasingly slowly as Remus and Dorcas looked back blankly at her.

‘He literally got banished from the States for what he did, that’s why he came to the UK,’ Marlene jumped in, amazed that two of her friends had no clue what she and Alice were talking about.

‘You know, talking in riddles isn’t going to help us understand what you’re on about any more than just flat out saying it,’ Dorcas drawled sarcastically.

‘He married a Muggle and when MACUSA discovered, they tried to have it annulled by saying he was out of his mind, bat-shit barmy. He had to appear in court for it, but apparently he was so angry when the motion set through that he went to the Dragon Sanctuary in the desert and set them loose on the whole country, they had a few Horntails there. The cover-up they had to do after it was insane,’ Alice explained, her excitement evident as she kept glancing at the American.

‘He caused a lot of damage and they had to obliviate a lot of Muggles after it. It was a shame, really, he was a bloody fantastic Auror, one of the best in the States, but I guess the job just drove him mad, it can do that. All you’ve got to do is look at Alastor Moody,’ Marlene continued, rather proud of her comparison.

‘Merlin,’ Remus breathed. ‘And Dumbledore’s let a mad-man like that into the castle.’

‘Dumbledore _is_ a mad-man.’

‘What’s MACUSA?’ Dorcas asked, still confused by a few parts of the story.

‘The Magical Congress of the United States of America,’ Alice stated. ‘The American Ministry of Magic, essentially.’

‘Ah, I see. So why was he allowed in this country, surely he should be behind bars in America for doing something that drastic and dangerous,’ Dorcas’s voice had gone higher, as it often did when she was nervous.

‘Apparently they managed to plot some deal for him to come the UK, Dumbledore was a spokesperson for him. I’m not surprised, Dumbledore likes the tragic types,’ Marlene chuckled.

‘And he’s now teaching at Hogwarts. This’ll be an interesting year,’ Alice hummed, a glint of anticipation sparkling in her honey eyes.

‘It’s awful how they couldn’t marry Muggles for so long. Imagine if you fell in love with the only person you weren’t allowed to marry,’ Dorcas sighed sadly.

‘That’s any ancient wizarding family for you,’ Alice grimaced.

Sleepiness filled the students quickly after the feast, leading them all to bed, only just managing to plant one foot after another in their wake. The boys quickly collapsed into their four-posters, only to be awoken far too quickly and early to face the first day of their NEWTs studies. However, much to the boys enjoyment, they had Defence Against the Dark Arts first on their timetable, before a startling amount of newly in place free periods.

James and Sirius took their usual positions at the back of the classroom as the sixth year students filed in. The professor was not yet there, and didn’t arrive for another ten minutes, leading the class to amuse themselves. Fabian Prewett decided to origami a rather intricate looking bird and send it flying around the classroom. They classes eyes followed it until it was caught be hand near the front of the question, by a man they’d seen only once before then.

‘Well, I can tell you’re going to be an imaginative sixth year class, that’s for sure,’ the man’s American accent spoke with amusement, catching every students attention. It wasn’t everyday they met an American at Hogwarts. ‘Good morning, students. My name is Professor Rudolf Sarras, and I will be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.’

The class blinked back at him blankly. None was too sure what to say in response, it was the most casual way a Professor had ever introduced themselves before.

‘Aren’t you that bloke that set all those dragons loose in the States?’ Rosier, a Slytherin, questioned bluntly. Lily rolled her eyes as she watched sympathetically as Sarras swallowed awkwardly. He clearly hadn’t been prepared for a student to bring that up.

‘I reckon he needs a little initiation,’ James whispered in Sirius ear, smirking. Sirius grinned back.

‘What you got in mind?’ Sirius asked enthusiastically.

‘Wait and see.’

They turned back to see the Professor taking a deep, shuddering sigh.

‘I won’t lie to you, yes, those articles are about me. But Dumbledore trusts me enough to work here at Hogwarts and teach you, no matter what people think his judgement or his reasonings are. I am very grateful,’ Sarras spoke humbly, showing no tones of venom towards Rosier. He seemed very gracious, to most students, that he was able to work at the castle.

The class was silent and Lily, near the front narrowed her eyes at him before leaning into Dorcas, who was sitting next to her.

‘You know, he never admitted what he did, there,’ she whispered curiously, as Sarras began writing on the board in chalk, something rather uncommon for the Professor’s at Hogwarts. Normally, the teachers made the chalk write on its own.

‘What do you mean?’ Dorcas frowned, eyeing the motions of the American.

‘He said the articles were about him. Didn’t actually say they were true,’ Lily expanded, causing Dorcas to raise an eyebrow slightly.

‘Interesting,’ she trailed, ‘but I think you might be looking a bit too far into it. I mean, if you read the reports, there’s hundreds of evidence proving that he did.’

‘Did you spend all of last night researching the case?’ Lily smirked, amused by Dorcas’s dedication.

‘I wanted to know more about it, leave me alone,’ Dorcas bumped Lily’s shoulder playfully.

The class proceeded as usual afterwards, with a few mutters here and there, discussing the controversial teacher’s position. James’s smirk grew over their first lesson back as they took notes about Dementors, along with their purpose and identifiable features. Remus caught James’s face out of the corner of his eyes and then rolled them, shaking his head as he returned to his notes. He knew his friend was about induce in some form of chaos.

Whipping his wand out, James muttered a spell under his breath and before long, Sarras yelped and the class started tittering. His horn-rimmed glasses had suddenly started flashing with multi-coloured lenses, taking him by surprise from the lecture he was performing.

‘What in Merlin …’ Sarras breathed as he took off his glasses, blinking erratically from the epilepsy inducing prank. After his words were spoken, the class broke into laughter, Sirius, and James fist-bumping each other in the process.

Little did he know, James Potter had met his match.

Sarras started chuckling as he observed the glasses, looking across the class rather happily as they laughed gleefully at the prank. Of course, everyone knew who was behind it, but they weren’t about to rat on the Marauders for their antics.

‘I see I was right,’ Sarras smiled. ‘Very imaginative.’

Sarras then picked up his wand and tapped his glasses twice, returning the lenses to their usual, clear appearance before settling them back on his nose.

‘Oh, shit!’ James suddenly exclaimed, shoving his own glasses off his nose so they clattered on the desk. Everyone whipped their head round to see that now James’s own glasses were flashing colourfully, and faster than Sarras’s had, James’s eyebrows knotted in confusion and annoyance.

Sarras stood up, a smirk playing on his face and started walking towards is prankster.

‘A simple spell reversing charm. Rather ingenious. Mr Potter, is it?’ Sarras asked as he stood in front of the James’s desk, had linked together. James nodded slowly, satisfying Sarras. ‘Rule number one of being an Auror, Mr Potter: there is always someone with a deeper need for revenge than you. Seeing it any other way is foolish. You may as well be wearing rose tinted glasses.’

‘Well, you got finished,’ Remus snickered as the class filed out of their first lesson once Professor Sarras dismissed them, rather happy at James’s embarrassment.

‘I forgot that he was an Auror. Knows all sorts of tricks, he will,’ James muttered glumly as they padded their way back to the Common Room to enjoy their first free period of the year.

‘Reckon he actually let all those dragons escape?’ Sirius questioned happily, tossing his head back as they retreated from the classroom to take one last glance at the door.

‘I know there’s supposedly tons of evidence that he did,’ James said softly, ‘but there’s something I can’t quite put my finger on. He never actually admitted that he did it.’

The boys suddenly heard a stream of giggled behind them. James, Peter, and Remus turned around to see a group of fresh, Hufflepuff fifth year girls giggling in their direction. Confused, they turned back around to see Sirius smirking to himself, realisation washing over them.

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, what did you do?’ Remus asked, rolling his eyes, grabbing Sirius’s arrogant attention.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Sirius feigned innocence, shoving his hands in his pockets in a way that lead to another stream of titters reaching them from the girls.

‘Have you fucked one of them already? It’s the first day back,’ James raised his eyebrows in disbelief, leading to a snicker from Sirius. ‘Keep it at least a little classy, Pads.’

‘I have neither confirmed nor denied anything,’ Sirius continued, clearly proud of himself.

‘So that’s why you came in at three in the morning last night,’ Peter huffed, crossing his arms as the four of them entered the Gryffindor Common Room and dropped themselves on the squishy sofas.

‘How did you know that?’ Sirius asked, propping his elbow up on the armrest of one of the armchairs.

‘Your beds across from mine, and I swear, if you start bringing girls back to ours, I will hex you,’ Peter scowled at him, leading to an amused scoff from Sirius.

‘Oh, Wormy! You couldn’t hex me if you tried! But you don’t have to worry, I’m not going to start bringing girls back to my bed,’ Sirius ruffled Peter’s hair, Peter trying to swat his hands away.

‘Why, so you don’t stink it up with skank?’ Remus drawled sarcastically, taking out _Advanced Rune Translation_.

‘My bed is where I rest, Moony. It is a sanctuary for me and me alone, not for whatever sket I want to shag that day,’ Sirius said nonchalantly, placing his hands behind his head as he relaxed into the couch.

‘You’re grim, but at least you’re honest about what you’re planning to do with them,’ James muttered, rubbing two fingers into his temple. Sirius’s face simply broke out into an evil grin.

‘I never said anything about being honest with them. But with you boys, I’ll admit, I am a beacon of truth,’ Sirius proposed dramatically, only to be met with a series of eye rolls.

‘You’re a mouth, that’s what you are,’ James responds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!! :)  
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and found it entertaining, if not a little too philosophical, lol.   
> Again, the song isn't mine, although I have altered it to fit with what I wanted to portray. It was written for Project Legilimensia, and is completely and utterly, bloody fantastic, so if you want to read the original song in full and without my adaptations, here is the link; https://gist.github.com/gulopine/4277840  
> As always, keep commenting, it really helps me out and thank you for all you continued support and love for this fic, it's truly made my quarantine so much better.  
> Hope you're all keeping well,  
> Love, Julia xx


	41. Stakeout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Parts of this chapter belong directly to JKR and her HP books, specifically, the Deathly Hallows, but have been amended to fit the story. So ... all those Fair Use Rights and all that, 'cause, again, I don't want to get sued ;)

Lily had thrown herself into her studies ever since she returned to Hogwarts, spending most of her hours in the Library. It was the best way she could think of to keep her mind off of everything else going on in her life. She could hide away in a corner with a book, a roll of parchment and a quill and not have anyone bother her for hours while allowing her mind to stop spinning.

She hadn’t been sleeping well. She found it extremely difficult to relax ever since her father passed away and she couldn’t shut her brain off. Endless possibilities were rushing around her head, and when she did finally get to sleep, there were the nightmares. Nightmares of her father coming back, disappointed at her, yelling at her, his skin rotting and falling off his bones.

Snape also appeared in her nightmares, usually after her dad showed up. He’d call her a Mudblood over and over in them and she’d wake up with tears streaming down her face and in a cold sweat.

Marlene had desperately tried to get her to talk, but Lily simply didn’t want to. Marlene had graciously respected it at first, but like any best friend, she knew hers wasn’t okay and also wasn’t getting any better. Lily wanted to reassure Marlene, but also knew she couldn’t. Lily didn’t want to talk to anyone who knew her extremely well. It felt suffocating.

During her time in the Library, she had noticed that Mary Macdonald, a Hufflepuff sixth year, also spent a lot of time in the Library as of late. Over time, they ended up moving closer and closer together along the row of bookshelves they worked at until they started exchanging a few small words.

Before long, they had become somewhat friends, and Lily learned that Mary’s mother had gone missing that summer, out of blue, and she was meticulously working away to keep her thoughts away from where on earth her mother could be. Lily sympathised greatly and told Mary of her own father’s story. And Lily finally felt as though someone understood what she was going through.

Mary was the one who introduced her to what she saw when she first stepped of the Hogwarts Express at the start of term. The creatures were called thestrals, and Mary saw them too. She told Lily that they were quite gentle, really, but people tended to avoid them because they were, well, different. They were usually regarded as omens of death because they could only be seen by those who had seen and processed death. Lily didn’t see the creatures in that way, she remembered the comfort they gave her when she first saw them, almost as though it was her father’s spirit attempting to soothe her.

Lily and Mary ended up sitting in Ancient Runes together, since neither Dorcas, Alice, or Marlene took it for NEWTs and Lily wasn’t too keen on sitting alone once she found out Mary was in the class. She could have always sat next to Remus, she supposed, but she knew that Remus would end up interrogating her about why she was being so quiet, and she didn’t want to be dealing with a string of questions that she, herself, didn’t know the answers to.

‘Hey, since you’re in the dictionary, could you find this symbol for me, I can’t remember,’ Mary whispered to Lily, pointing to a symbol printed in the textbook as Lily leafed through the dictionary. The class was quiet as they worked through a translation Professor Babbling had set them, with a few scattered murmurs.

‘Of course, it means “goblin”,’ Lily said with a small smile, that Mary returned. Mary hesitated before returning to her writing, twirling her quill in her hand.

‘So, has James Potter bothered you since the start of term?’ Mary asked with a smirk once Lily huffed and rolled her eyes at the three syllables strung together.

‘Ugh, even _you_ know about him pestering me?’ Lily sighed, which led to Mary letting out a light chuckle.

Mary was the type that was an underrated pretty, in Lily’s eyes. She had soft brown eyes and fluffy eyebrows with auburn hair that touched more on brunette than ginger. She was small and dainty, to the point that it sometimes looked as though her school robes drowned her, with a heart shaped face. She reminded Lily a little bit of a teddy bear.

‘Lily, _everybody_ in the school knows about it, his obsession with you has spread far and wide,’ Mary grinned as Lily begrudgingly dipped her quill in more ink.

‘Don’t even get me started,’ Lily growled. ‘But no, he’s actually left me alone so far this year, it’s almost like a dream come true.’

‘Damn, really? Not even one date proposal?’ Mary asked with surprise, expecting Lily to go into a full rant about James’s most recent fanciful offer to Hogsmeade.

‘Nope. Last time he asked me out was that time by the Lake last term. When I shouted at him for what he did to Sev - Snape,’ Lily said, catching herself from saying Snape’s first name. She hadn’t said it out loud since that day. As much as she missed him, she couldn’t forgive him, not for what he called her.

Lily knew it made her a hypocrite, to only be so affected by _that_ word only when she was called it by Snape, when in fact, he had been calling Muggle-borns it for years before, it was just never directed at herself. Mary had confessed to her at one point that Snape and other Slytherin’s had called her a Mudblood and thrown other slurs and insults at her over the years, especially in fifth year. Mary was a Muggle-born herself and Lily felt dreadful that she had been so blinded by her friendship with Snape and so self-absorbed that she didn’t see what was going on right under her nose.

‘I’m sorry about what happened that day. It was so horrible, all those boys were completely in the wrong,’ Mary sympathised, toying with her yellow tie. ‘And you were right, at that moment, they were all as bad as one another. James and those boys might be funny, but what they did that day was uncalled for, but so was Snape’s reaction.’

‘It’s okay, I’ve tried to not think about it much,’ Lily confessed. ‘Can’t say it was my proudest moment either, screaming like that. I just lost my temper.’

‘Have you spoken to Snape since the incident?’ Mary asked, more curiously than Lily expected her to.

‘No, I haven’t actually. I don’t even know if he came round my house during the summer, I locked myself away after my dad, you know,’ Lily replied. She still couldn’t quite get the words “passed away” out of her mouth. It made it seem real.

‘So, it could be true,’ Mary muttered under her breath with a frown, catching Lily’s attention.

‘What could be?’ Lily asked. Mary shifted in her seat, lifting her head to look at Lily uncomfortably. ‘Mary, what is it?’

‘I saw Snape and Lupin arguing recently in the Library at lunch today. It was quite hushed, but I’m pretty sure they were arguing about you. I think Snape was trying to get some information out of Lupin, ab - about you,’ Mary stuttered. ‘I’m not sure, but I swear I heard something about him threatening to sleep outside Gryffindor Tower tonight.’

‘Oh, for Christ’s sake,’ Lily said under her breath, dropping her head into her hands.

‘Of course, that was just from me eavesdropping, I have no idea if that’s actually true! I could’ve heard wrong or something, but I just thought I should let you know since he hasn’t seen you all summer. Does that even sound like something he would do?’ Mary rambled as the bell to end the period rang and the class started packing up to leave.

‘Yes, unfortunately. It does,’ Lily groaned as she shoved her textbook in her bag and hitched it up her back.

‘I’m sorry, Lily, I wish there was some way I could get him to leave you alone,’ Mary apologised, but Lily waved it off.

‘No, don’t apologise, it’s not your fault. It’s my fault for being so stupid for so long,’ Lily deprecated herself and Mary tossed an arm over her shoulders in comfort.

‘You weren’t stupid, don’t say that! It’s great that you see the good in people, so many people don’t. That’s why it’s so hard when someone you tried to see the good in for so long finally shows their true colours. It hurts more than people think,’ Mary comforted Lily, making Lily give her a small smile.

‘You’re smart you know that,’ Lily smiled, wrapping her own arm around Mary.

‘I wouldn’t go that far,’ Mary giggled. ‘But I know a good person when I see one.’

Lily, once again, was tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. With the curtains drawn around her four-poster bed, she had tired reading one of her books to try and get to sleep as well as getting the small radio the girls kept in the bathroom, casting a silencing charm and listening to the sleepy ballads the WWN played at that time of night, but nothing worked. Part of what was keeping her awake was her fear of the nightmares that followed. She’d had enough of them. They were slowly driving her insane.

She jumped as she heard the door to the dormitory open rather aggressively. She felt the person’s feet pad across the room before her curtains were ripped open to reveal a rather disgruntled Marlene McKinnon.

‘Where the fuck have you been?’ Lily exclaimed, taking the blonde in. Her hair was rather dishevelled, and she had a slinky, black silk robe covering her, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

‘Never mind that, what the fuck is Snape doing, camping next to the Fat Lady?’ Marlene growled, clearly irritated. Lily glanced at the clock on her bedside table that read three in the morning.

‘He’s actually out there?’ Lily asked in disbelief, Marlene tapping her foot impatiently on the wooden floor.

‘Yes! And he decided to ambush as I was coming back into the Common Room! He wouldn’t let me go until I promised him I’d wake you up and make you go to him. Of course, I’m not going to say anything of the sort, I’m just here because I’m fucking fuming at the fact I now have a Snape hand-shaped bruise on my arm!’ Marlene huffed. Lily narrowed her eyes at Marlene.

‘It’s not like that’s my fault. And why the fuck where you only getting in at this time, who were you with?’ Lily interrogated and Marlene pinched the bridge of her nose.

‘It doesn’t matter, and I know it’s not your fault, I’m sorry. I just got annoyed, Snivellus is the last fucking person I want to see at this time of night,’ Marlene said, chucking off her shoes as she headed back to her own bed and dropped into it.

‘Don’t call him Snivellus,’ Lily whispered, grabbing her dressing gown, and looping her hands through the sleeves.

‘You did,’ Marlene replied matter-of-factly, lifting her head up to see Lily putting on her slippers, reminding Lily of that unpleasant moment. ‘You’re actually going down to him?’

‘He’ll freeze if he’s out there all night,’ Lily murmured.

‘Then let him, if he’s idiotic enough to do that. He’s just going to make you fucking forgive him again!’ Marlene argued, glaring at Lily’s actions like a hawk.

‘No, he’s not, I’m going to be firm. I’m not just going to forgive someone who called me a Mudblood,’ Lily spat, the venom clear in her voice, but Marlene knew that tone wasn’t aimed at her.

‘We’ll see,’ she said softly as she closed her eyes. Lily let out a grunt of frustration.

‘Well, Miss McKinnon, would you like to come and fucking chaperone me as I do it?’ she rolled her eyes, making Marlene lift her head to look at her best friend again.

‘You’re lucky Dorcas and Alice are heavy sleepers,’ Marlene glared.

‘I’ll be right back,’ Lily said, shutting the door as she left the dormitory and took the stairs to the Common Room.

She stormed over to the portrait hole and stepped out of it to be met with a ghostly white and shivering Severus Snape, who looked up at her from the floor once he acknowledged her presence. He jumped to his feet, his green blanket dropping from his knees, his dark eyes boring into hers anxiously. He was playing with his fingers, something he always did when he was nervous.

‘Go back to your dorm,’ Lily said coldly, her voice shaking slightly as she wrapped her dressing gown tighter around her.

‘Lily, please!’ Snape started, trying to reach out to her with his hands but she flinched away.

‘I have nothing to say to you, please go,’ Lily said, avoiding his eye contact.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘I’m not interested.’

‘I’m sorry!’

‘Save your breath.’ Lily scoffed, hearing the tutting of the Fat Lady behind her as the portrait listened in to their conversation. ‘I only came out here because Mary told me that you were threatening to sleep here.’ Lily decided not to mention Marlene in this scenario.

‘I was, I am! I’m going to. I never meant to call you a Mudblood, it just -’

‘Slipped out?’ There was no pity in Lily’s voice. ‘It’s too late. I’ve made excuses for you for years. None of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Slytherin friends - you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that you all use Dark Magic! You don’t deny that you all probably know who’s behind all the killings and the disappearances they write about in the Prophet!

Snape opened his mouth but then closed, it without speaking.

‘I can’t pretend any more. You’ve chosen your way, I’ve chosen mine.’

‘No - listen, I didn’t mean -’

‘- to call me a Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?’

Snape struggled on the verge of speech, but with a contemptuous look, Lily turned and climbed back through the portrait hole, leaving Snape in his wallow in the cold.

She sighed as she stood in the middle of the empty Common Room and ran a hand through her long red hair. Letting out a deep breath she walked over to the sofas in front of the fire and sat down. She didn’t feel like going up to bed, not where Marlene would surely ask her about what happened with Snape.

‘ _Incendio,_ ’ Lily muttered, pointing her wand at the fireplace and large flames ejected from the logs, lighting and warming up the room.

She bit her nails nervously as she sat there, far to awake to go to sleep now. Completely drifted into her own world and lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even hear the sound of the portrait hole yet again opening and the sound of trainers slapping on the floor.

‘Lily flower!’ Sirius exclaimed, grinning as he saw her, which made Lily take in a deep, controlled breath to prevent her from lashing out. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Don’t call me that,’ Lily said in an exhausted manner, Sirius’s grin falling slightly. Instead of heading up to the boys dormitories, he moved himself over to the other end of the sofa that Lily was sat and placed himself down.

‘You alright, Red?’ he asked again, furrowing his brows as he looked onto her.

‘You wouldn’t get it. Or care,’ Lily said dismissively, tucking her knees into her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

‘Try me,’ he said. Lily looked up at him with a sigh. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Sirius, but he was best friends with James, joined at the hip, so by association, she wasn’t his biggest fan.

‘You’ve probably just come back from being with some skank, why are you bothering yourself with me?’ Lily asked rather harshly, which made Sirius clear his throat.

‘I’m going to ignore your assumption of me and continue being a decent human being. I can’t force you into telling me what’s up, but I’m at least offering a shoulder,’ Sirius retorted, settling himself more comfortably on the couch.

Lily pulled her knees into her chest ever closer and dropped her eyes. She knew she was lashing out at Sirius for no reason be she was drowning. So much was happening so quickly, and she couldn’t keep up with it anymore.

‘Did you hear that I got disowned this year?’ Sirius asked suddenly, making her look at him. Her eyes scanned him, unsure.

‘Yeah, uh, I’m sorry about that,’ Lily said awkwardly, but Sirius waved her off.

‘Don’t be. It’s one of the better things to happen so far this year. You know why?’ he asked.

Lily shook her head. She wasn’t sure where he was going with what he was saying.

‘I finally got away from the beliefs and values I don’t hold. It’s hard, to be family, or friends, with someone when you don’t have the same morals. It eats away at you. And those people aren’t worth your loyalty,’ Sirius said, and he stood up at his last words, leaving Lily to stare into the fireplace as his statement hung over her. As he took the first step up to the dormitories, she stood up to face him.

‘Why would you tell me that? Why are you being nice to me?’ Lily asked, pushing her hair out of her face. Sirius chuckled as he put his hands into his pockets. He was still in jeans.

‘I may not agree or like how you treat James, Red, but I still know you’re a good person. And Snape doesn’t deserve to have you as a friend. Keep it strong, Red,’ Sirius said, sending Lily a final wink before heading up the stairs and leaving her by the crackling fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Ello! :)  
> How you all doing, I hope you're doing well. Despite the fact that I find this chapter kind of boring myself ( but obviously necessary), I kind of really love it. I think you see some sides of the characters that we've not yet been able to witness, but let me know what you think of it, 'cause I'm intrigued.   
> I'm finding Lily slightly tricky to write at the moment because of all the stuff she's going through, and I'm trying to convey her confusion of her sense of self through all of it. But still, we move, and I'm trying to grow Lily into who she's destined to be, because I certainly don't think that it was only James who had to do a shit ton of maturing before the two of them can finally date. People so often paint Lily as this perfect Gryffindor Princess and that James was the problem, but I don't think that's so. Everyone, especially teenagers, need room to grow.  
> Let me know what you think,   
> Love, Julia xx


	42. The Fickle Fortune

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Parts of this chapter belong directly to JKR and her HP books, specifically the Half Blood Prince, but have been amended to fit the story. So, all those Fair Use Rights laws and that, 'cause I don't want to get sued ;)

‘So, how are you feeling about Sluggy recruiting you for the Slug Club again this year, Black?’ James clapped Sirius on the back at breakfast, almost making Sirius choke on the porridge he was eating.

‘You know, there is such a manner as not eating with your mouth full. It’s put in place so that you don’t spit food at people. Why are you encouraging the spitting?’ Sirius coughed, shooting James a glare.

‘We’ve got to make you less attractive to girls somehow,’ James snickered with delight as Remus’s eyes flitted between the two boys with amusement.

‘Yeah, nice try, Prongsie, like you could ever succeed with that plan. Besides, you’ve been doing some sneaking of your own lately, who’ve you been seeing?’ Sirius threw James under the bus, which made Remus and Peter perk up.

‘It’s nothing, it doesn’t matter, what’s it to you,’ James stumbled over his words, making all three boys smirk around him as he tried to hide his face with his toast.

‘You alright there, Prongs? We don’t have secrets, what are you not telling us?’ Remus asked, interested in the current turn of event to the point where he placed down his book.

‘It’s nothing, really,’ James continued defending.

‘Who you sneaking around with?’ Sirius pushed.

‘Potter’s is sneaking around with someone? There’s something in the air then, ‘cause we think Marlene’s sneaking around with someone as well,’ Alice said as she dropped down into the seat next to James along with Lily and Dorcas.

‘McKinnon’s sneaking around with someone?’ Sirius asked while taking a sip of his tea.

‘Who with?’ James quizzed.

‘No idea, but she’s been coming back in the early hours of the morning quite often really. I mean, that’s not completely unheard of for Marlene, but it’s been more often than usual,’ Dorcas told them.

‘And she would absolutely kill you for spreading this around,’ Lily said airily as she inspected her nails.

‘You have no idea who it could be?’ Sirius pressed.

‘What’s got you so interested?’ Remus asked with a raised brow. Sirius could feel James’s eyes narrow on the side of his head.

‘Wait so it’s not you she’s sneaking around with then?’ Lily queried suddenly, and Sirius felt James’s eyes light on fire.

‘What? No, of course not, McKinnon and I are mates! What would make you think that?’ Sirius exclaimed, taken aback by the accusation. He suddenly felt all eyes on him from the group around him.

‘Well, that night you and I talked in the Common Room, Marlene had come back to the dorm a little while before then, so I just thought …’ Lily trailed off, jumping between the faces of confusion before her. Except for Sirius who was looking on the edge of angry at this point.

‘What McKinnon does in her spare time is no concern of mine, Evans, and it’s _far_ from whatever or whoever I’m doing, that’s for sure,’ Sirius defended himself crudely, nervous taking another sip of tea.

‘Then why were you so interested in who she’s meeting up with? Peter asked. At the point in time, Sirius would have happily slammed Peter through the stone floor of the Great Hall and left him there to learn how to read a room.

‘Because - well, I - oh, fuck this, it doesn’t matter! You lot were interested as well,’ Sirius growled, putting his bag over his shoulder as he stood up, avoiding James’s gaze like it would burn him alive. ‘I’ll see you in Potions,’ he muttered and left the Great Hall, flustered.

‘Well that was weird,’ Remus broke the awkward silence within the group as he gulped down the last of his hot chocolate.

‘Wow. I never thought I’d see the day that Sirius Black was flustered,’ Dorcas chortled.

‘Interesting, innit?’ James said darkly, making Remus roll his eyes.

‘You need to calm down,’ Remus muttered lowly so only James could hear, a comment to which James scoffed.

‘It is my sister we’re talking about,’ James replied distastefully, making Remus look at him complacently, which James didn’t particularly appreciate.

‘She’s a big girl, Prongs,’ Remus said to James as though he was talking to a toddler. ‘And if there’s any girl who can handle herself, it Marlene. Remember how she punched Benjy Fenwick?’

That made James chuckle. ‘He stole her liquorice wand in Charms, and she was absolutely _not_ having it.’

‘My point exactly. And if Padfoot says that Marlene sneaking around has nothing to do with him, then I think you should believe him,’ Remus tried to further convince James to absolve Sirius of James’s imaginary crimes for him.

‘I guess you’re right. He was just telling me how he piped that Ravenclaw, Kendra Felide -’

‘Lovely way of putting it,’ Remus interjected humorously.

‘- and he did promise me he wouldn’t touch Marls,’ James finished, making Remus do a double take.

‘Wait, what?’ Remus’s forehead started creasing as people started leaving the Hall for first period.

‘This summer, I made Padfoot promise that he wouldn’t try anything with Marls, wouldn’t fuck her or anything, and he agreed. So I’m sure that he’ll be good at exercising that self-control when it comes to me,’ James said.

Remus let out a sarcastic laugh as he leaned back from the table before pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. James raised his eyebrows.

‘What?’ James asked, frowning even more than he was at the start of breakfast.

‘You know that when Sirius is told he can’t have something, he’ll do anything he can to then prove that he can get it, and that includes girls,’ Remus said, treating James as though he was dumb. James simply shrugged.

‘Sirius is my brother, I know he won’t do anything as long as I keep on him about it,’ James said, making Remus snort.

‘Prongs, the girl is a quarter fucking Veela, arguably the prettiest girl in the school, and most of the boys in this fucking castle fancy her as it is -’

‘No they fucking don’t -’

‘Yes they fucking do, you just don’t see it because she’s your sister. And if you think that Sirius is going to give up the bragging rights of the fact that he got to fuck Marlene McKinnon, you’re _way_ more naïve than you let on,’ Remus finished bluntly, with an even more disgruntled James than he started with.

James stared back at Remus in an unsure yet angry sort of way. Remus knew that James knew he was right, at least about the Marlene portion. They were now some of the only people left in the Great Hall. The girls had left some time ago, and Peter was engrossed in finishing some last minute homework, so no one was listening to them.

‘I know Sirius,’ James eventually said, firmly. ‘He won’t break his word. Not to me.’

‘Whatever you say,’ Remus shrugged, finishing of his breakfast. ‘We need to shift ourselves, we’re already late for Potions.’

Slughorn was already describing a series of freshly brewed potions to the class when they arrived, Sirius standing at the back looking particularly disgruntled. They mumbled a quick “sorry” which Slughorn cheerfully accepted and they joined Sirius at the back of the classroom.

‘So, before we were interrupted by the boys, I was about to tell you what potion we’re brewing today. This is one that the girls tend to enjoying -’

‘Definitely a sexist love potion,’ Alice muttered.

‘- and it is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in existence.’ Slughorn grinned at them.

‘Nailed it,’ Dorcas smirked, high-fiving Alice.

‘Now, Amortentia is distinctive for its pearl sheen and it smells different to each person, according to what attracts them. It can cause powerful infatuation or obsession from the drinker, which also makes it one of the most dangerous potions to exist. Can anyone tell me the physical effects of the potion?’ Slughorn asked, peering around the class.

Lily almost instantly raised her hand to answer the question and Slughorn gestured for her to give the answer.

‘The effects are almost instantaneous, and the drinker will appear pale and sickly, exhibiting actions that can be dangerously unstable towards the object of their affections,’ Lily answered in a dead pan way. She glanced to her right and saw several girls were slowly inching closer to the cauldron of Amortentia in front of them.

‘Even more than I asked for, Miss Evans, twenty points to Gryffindor!’ Slughorn cheered as he briskly placed the lid on the cauldron full of love potion, halting the girls in their progress. ‘Now, children, your task over the next few lessons will be to brew the Amortentia potion as well as you possible can, after all, it is incredibly difficult. However, the pair that can brew the best potion will receive a little prize,’ Slughorn added giddily. He always enjoyed handing out rewards for the best work in his classes.

Lily’s eyes somehow ended up catching Snape’s from the opposite end of the room. She dropped them quickly scuffing her shoe on the stone floor, a feeling of sadness filling her. She wondered if that feeling would ever stop when she saw him.

‘Hey,’ Marlene bumped her shoulder playfully. ‘Want to go partners with me?’

For the past five years, Lily’s go-to partner in Potions had always been Snape and now, that wasn’t an option anymore. She smiled gratefully at Marlene and they walked over to a desk together, opening their books and organising the ingredients as they need them.

Potions with Marlene was in no way a downgrade from Snape. Marlene was also unbelievably clever and could whip up Potions like it was nobody’s business. They got to work as soon they sat at their station, hence why they were a pair of Slughorn’s favourite students.

Remus had cleverly decided to partner up with Peter that day, forcing James and Sirius to stand and work together at a station without the generous amount of animosity. James couldn’t deny that the first twenty minutes felt awkward, with only a few words being exchanged between them. James couldn’t bear it, deciding to break the tension.

‘Look, about this morning -’ James started, but was interrupted.

‘Prongs, I wouldn’t. And I won’t,’ Sirius said simply, running a hand through his hair as he geared up to crush some moonstone. James nodded to the comment.

At first he thought he wanted to confront Sirius, ask him what he thought of Marlene, as he’d never actually done that. But he decided against it. No matter Sirius’s personal thoughts, they were brothers and one of them would have to die before the other broke a promise.

‘I know,’ James said with a smile, visibly relaxing Sirius and the two continued to work with their usual sets of laugh, banter and making Slughorn uncomfortable at every opportunity.

It was three days until the full moon and Sirius couldn’t sleep. He had been tossing and turning in his sheets for the better half of two hours before finishing on his back with a defeated sigh.

He had blown off Kendra Felide for the second time that week. He was supposed to meet her in one of the sixth floor broom closets, but she had been acting rather clingy and he wasn’t too keen on being her pet. Besides, she would dig her nails into him, and they were bloody sharp, to the point that it hurt.

He sat up, sinking his hand into his bedside drawer, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Throwing on a t-shirt, a pair of tracksuit bottoms, trainers, and James’s invisibility cloak, he sneaked out of the dorm to the sounds of Peter and James’s snoring and made his way out of Gryffindor Tower. Once outside the portrait of the Fat Lady (who threw a few disgruntled insults his way for waking her up) he took a sharp right turn and headed for the Astronomy Tower, one of his favourite places in the castle.

He had been spending quite a lot of nights there lately. Not only had he been struggling to sleep, but it was the perfect place to smoke. What he wasn’t expecting was to already smell the aroma of smoke as he took the last steep stairs to the stop.

‘McKinnon?’ he asked as he saw her, lit up by the moonlight. She was sitting on one of the window ledges, her legs stretched out in front of her and casually breathing out the puffs of smoking, her head relaxed against the wall. Her head turned slowly to meet his.

‘Couldn’t sleep?’ she asked, a small smile greeting him. He smirked in response.

‘Apparently not. You?’ Sirius asked as he walked over to her. He took her legs in his hand and lifted them to sit himself down before placing her legs back down on his lap.

‘Same. But I also just wanted a smoke in peace without Dorcas jumping down my throat about it,’ Marlene chuckled to herself as Sirius lit his own cigarette.

‘Fair enough,’ Sirius replied, feeling a deep sense of calm fill him as he breathed in the small stick of nicotine.

‘So,’ Marlene drawled, tapping of the excess of her fag, ‘why were you and James so awkward today?’ She smirked as her blue eyes met his grey.

Sirius rolled his own. ‘Oh, it was nothing, it was just something stupid,’ he said taking another drag, but he knew Marlene wouldn’t accept that.

‘Come on, Black. Did you smell something you shouldn’t have in the Amortentia,’ she taunted, pressing against his thigh playfully with her foot.

‘Yes, James’s hair,’ Sirius replied satirically, staring out onto the Black Lake.

‘Yeah, I’d only believe that if James actually used Sleekeazy’s,’ Marlene said, picturing James’s untameably messy hair.

‘Well, what did you smell in the Amortentia then?’ Sirius smirked as he asked, looking at her with a smoulder.

‘Sandalwood was one of them. But I ain’t telling you the rest,’ Marlene smirk grew as her Scottish accent intensified with her humour.

‘Oh, come on, McKinnon, tell me! We’re all friends here,’ Sirius pushed for the answer, his own grin widening at the bashfulness Marlene was smiling with.

‘No, it was bloody weird, it hardly makes sense,’ Marlene refused, rolling her eyes at the glee Sirius was grinning at her with.

‘What sort of kinky shit are you into, McKinney,’ Sirius teased, this time making Marlene slam her heel into his thigh.

‘Shut up! Why are you up here anyway, shouldn’t you be with some girl,’ Marlene laughed, changing the subject.

‘You have such a high opinion of me,’ Sirius exasperated incredulously, placing a hand on his chest, making the blonde scoff.

‘It’s not like you give us much else to go on. How was Hestia Jones?’ Marlene asked teasingly as Sirius gave her a deadpan look.

‘Ha, ha,’ Sirius scowled. ‘Quit bullying me about that.’

‘I just never though you and James would ever share!’

‘Fuck off, he didn’t tell me until after I fucked her, and, if anything, it makes her look bad,’ Sirius defended himself playfully. ‘Anyway, what about you, who have you been sneaking around with, the girls are curious,’ Sirius winked.

Marlene stamped out her cigarette and lit up another one, taking another drag before replying.

‘Wouldn’t you like to know,’ she muttered.

‘Not your finest fuck?’ Sirius asked crudely but didn’t push her to answer who it was. Hearing from someone else wouldn’t be as weird as hearing from her directly. It made it very real if the name was to leave her mouth.

‘I guess you could say that,’ Marlene agreed. ‘Not that he isn’t good looking, but he’s a bit of shitty person.’

‘Shitty people seem to be your type,’ Sirius said cheekily, earning a glare from the blonde in front of him, but the corners of her mouth twitched with entertainment.

‘Shush, you’re not a shitty person,’ Marlene retorted. ‘You can just be a bit of a dickhead sometimes,’ she added with a smile.

‘Cheers McKinnon,’ Sirius lifted his hand and exchanged a fist bump with Marlene. He leant back, immersing himself in his cigarette and he noticed Marlene observing him softly. ‘What?’

‘I never said well done,’ the blonde sighed.

‘What for?’

‘For what you did this summer,’ Marlene smiled kindly at him and it made his stomach drop slightly. He held that down to circumstance. She was sat with the moon illuminating her, a cigarette dangling sexily from her fingers and her legs in his lap. Most guys would kill to be in this position with her that he was. He wasn’t complaining.

‘Yeah,’ Sirius said awkwardly, breaking eye contact with her. He wasn’t good at taking compliments, at least not emotional ones.

‘Really, Sirius, I’m proud. I knew you had it in you,’ Marlene emphasised, but started to descend into confusion as Sirius smirked at her.

‘You called me “Sirius”,’ he grinned, Marlene huffing at his immaturity.

‘Sometimes you’re worthy of your first name being used. Dickhead,’ Marlene winked and stood up, tossing her cigarette out the window. ‘I’m going to head. I’m in an Alchemy class all alone in the morning, so I kind of need to look alive.’

Sirius watched her as she made her way to the staircase across from the window, blonde hair cascading gracefully down her back. He only just took in what she was wearing. Converse, with shorts and a low cut top. He was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing a bra.

‘McKinnon,’ he caught her attention just as she was about to leave. ‘You’re a good one.’

‘Oh, I know,’ she said cockily, making him laugh. ‘It’s included freely when you’re born with something called charm.’

She could hear Sirius’s laughter as bounced down the steps of the Astronomy Tower.

‘I have charm,’ Sirius muttered to himself as he took another drag.

In a different tower of the school, Fawkes fluttered his feathers as he cooed slightly, deeply asleep. Dumbledore was leaning against the cabinet that held his liquidated memories and his pensieve was glowing in the corner of his office, casting a shadowy blue light across it.

Dumbledore’s long, willowy fingers picked out one of the skinny labelled bottles and he marched his way over to the pensieve and dripped the memory into the swirling mist beneath,

He found himself in a long corridor a few steps away from a younger, short-haired version of himself and skinny, harassed-looking woman with sharp feature next to him. Mrs Cole.

She knocked on the door in front of him twice and entered the room, both Dumbledore’s now close behind her.

‘Tom? You’ve got a visitor. This is Mr Dumberton - sorry, Dunderbore. He’s come to tell you - well, I’ll let him do it.’

Mrs Cole closed the door, leaving the two Dumbledore’s and a young Riddle. The room was small and bare, Tom Riddle sat on the iron bedstead, holding an open book. Dumbledore’s breath hitched. He remembered this moment, clear as day without the memory. The day he met the most dangerous wizard in history.

‘How do you do, Tom?’ Dumbledore heard himself say and watched himself shake hands with the young wizard, an action to which Riddle initially hesitated towards. Dumbledore waved his wand and the scenic memory blurred to another moment, skipping ahead.

‘I’m not mad!’

‘I know that you are not mad. Hogwarts is not a school for mad people. It is a school of magic.’

There was a silence between the man and the boy. Riddle was frozen, his face expressionless, but his eyes, quick and calculated, were flickering between Dumbledore and the door.

‘Magic?’ he repeated in a whisper.

‘That’s right,’ said Dumbledore.

‘It’s … it’s magic, what I can do?’

‘What is it you can do?’

‘All sorts,’ Riddle breathed. A flush of excitement was rising up his neck into his hollow cheeks, making him look fevered. ‘I can make things move without touching them. I can make animals do what I want them to do, without training them. I can make bad things happen to people who annoy me. I can make them hurt if I want to.’

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes on the boys, paying far more attention to every movement of the child, far more than he did all those years ago. Every blink, every stumble, every breath, he took notice of.

‘I knew I was different,’ Riddle whispered to his own quivering fingers. ‘I knew I was special. Always, I knew there was something.’

‘Well, you were quite right,’ said Dumbledore, who was no longer smiling, but watching Riddle intently. ‘You are a wizard.’

Riddle lifted his head. His face transfigured: there was a wild happiness upon it, his expression almost bestial.

‘Are you a wizard too?’

‘Yes, I am.’

‘Prove it,’ said Riddle instantly, in an impolite, commanding tone. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

‘If, as I take it, you are accepting your place at Hogwarts -’

‘Of course I am!’

‘Then you will address me as “Professor” or “sir”.’

Riddle’s expression hardened for the most fleeting moment before he said, in an unrecognisably polit voice, ‘I’m sorry, sir. I meant - please, Professor, could you show me -?’

The old wardrobe in the corner of the room burst into flames after a casual flick of Dumbledore’s wand, which he pulled out of his purple suit jacket.

Riddle jumped to his feet, howling in shock and rage. All of Riddle’s worldly possessions were enclosed in the wardrobe, but just as the young boy began to advance on Dumbledore, the flames vanished, leaving the wardrobe completely undamaged.

Riddle stared from the wardrobe to Dumbledore, then, his expression greedy, he pointed at the wand.

‘Where can I get one of them?’

‘All in good time,’ said Dumbledore. ‘I think there’s something trying to get out of your wardrobe.’

A faint rattling sound could be heard from inside the wardrobe. For the first time, Riddle looked frightened.

‘Open the door,’ said Dumbledore.

Riddle hesitated, then crossed the room and threw open the wardrobe door. On the highest shelf, above a rail of thread-bare clothes, a small carboard box was shaking and rattling as though there were several frantic mice trapped inside it.

‘Take it out,’ Dumbledore said.

Riddle took down the quaking box. He looked unnerved.

‘Is there anything in that box that you ought not to have?’ asked Dumbledore.

Riddle threw Dumbledore a long, clear, calculating look.

‘Yes, I suppose so, sir,’ he said finally, in an expressionless voice.

‘Open it,’ said Dumbledore.

Riddle took off the lid and tipped the contents on to his bed without looking at them. Scattered on the grey blankets was now a small mess of everyday objects; a yo-yo, a silver thimble, and a tarnished mouth organ among them. Once free of the box, they stopped quivering and lay quite still upon the thin blankets.

‘You will return them to their owners with your apologies,’ said Dumbledore calmly, putting his wand back into his suit jacket. ‘I shall know whether it had been done. And be warned: thieving is not tolerated at Hogwarts.’

Riddle did not look remotely abashed; he was still staring coldly and appraisingly at Dumbledore. At last, he said in a colourless voice, ‘Yes, sir.’

‘At Hogwarts,’ Dumbledore went on, ‘we teach you not only how to use magic, but to control it. You have - inadvertently, I am sure - been using your powers in a way that is neither taught not tolerated at our school. You are not the first, nor will you be the last, to allow your magic to run away with you. But you should know that Hogwarts can expel students, and the Ministry of Magic - yes, there is a Ministry - will punish lawbreakers still more severely. All new wizards must accept that, in entering our world, they abide by our laws.’

Dumbledore waved his wand again and the image dissipated in front of him, landing him back in his office at Hogwarts.

He sighed deeply as he moved away from the pensieve and sat down on the steps that led up to his grand desk. Resting his elbows on his legs, he twirled his wand between his fingers, peering over his half-moon spectacles in thought.

He didn’t know that he had met, arguably, one of the most dangerous Dark wizards their world was yet to see. There was such a sinister appeal behind young Tom Riddle’s words, and he thought back to Riddle’s time at Hogwarts. He had always kept a close eye on the seemingly friendless boy, remembering the boy’s obvious instincts for cruelty, secrecy, and domination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, so, like, I, kinda, really love this chapter :) ahaha  
> I'm slowly feeding more Blackinnon into this story and I'm absolutely loving it as it is one of my favourite ships ever. Also, who else has such an undying love for Remus and his spouting logic in this chapter? 'Cause I just want to marry him already for that, he just gives me life and I absolutely love him, what a gem!  
> Let me also know what you all thought of the memory that Dumbledore showed Harry in the Half Blood Prince of young Riddle. I've always found it so incredibly eerie, yet fascinating, and I always wished we got more of a glimpse into young Riddle. Her writing was fantastic for tat section, and I'm trying to convey Dumbledore's building apprehension, so let me know if I'm doing that well :)  
> Lots of love, Julia xx


	43. A Keeper and A Beater

James was hoping it wasn’t completely obvious that he was incredibly nervous as he walked out in front of a large group of people, many of them younger, but a couple older than him, all with brooms in their hands and temporary Quidditch robes splashed across their backs. His original team members stood off to the side, serving as an example of what the Gryffindor team should look like, along with various Gryffindor’s splashed across the stands, looking onto the try-outs. He sighed. He was pretty sure he didn’t want anyone on the team below fourth year. They tended to be unpredictable. But then again, may he’d discover a prodigy.

‘Alright, shut it!’ James yelled, grabbing the attention of all the newcomers. He still wasn’t entirely sure what kind of Captain he wanted to be, but he reckoned he should be at least a little bit stricter than he intended to be for try-outs. Freak the youngsters out a little bit.

‘Merlin, I’m getting Rumsfeld flashbacks already,’ Lewis Fortescue, one of the Gryffindor Chasers and Alice’s older brother, sniggered.

‘So, today we’re only looking for a Keeper and a Beater. I’m very happy with the team we currently have, so if you’re here in hopes of getting any other position, you can leave right now!’ James announced rather harshly.

A few grumbling students rolled their eyes and started walking off the pitch, broomsticks in hand. James eyed the remaining, still large crowd, before him and nodded satisfactorily.

‘Right, good. So, those who are applying for the Beater position, I want you to head over to the far side of the pitch. You’ll be working with Black and Tate. You need to be able to be quick, powerful, and work with Black seamlessly. You don’t work well with him, you don’t get the position, simple as that,’ James said, frankly. ‘Those applying for the Keeper position, you’ll stay here by the goals, with McKinnon and Fortescue. Keepers need to be light and quick, which both McKinnon and Fortescue know about due to their positions, so don’t worry that neither of them play the position.’

‘We’re looking for a man with big hands,’ Marlene wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, making the boys on the team laugh. Those in the crowd either looked shocked or confused, unused to Marlene’s antics and humour.

‘Oi, watch it, you,’ James warned her, amused. ‘I’ll be circling between the two group, making the final decision of who I want on the team. I’ll be eliminating as I see fit and those left will be the ones with the spots. Try your best and don’t be disappointed if you don’t get picked, it’s a competitive game.’

The crowd scarpered across the two sides of the pitch, with more people applying for the Beater position than the Keeper. James swung one leg over his broomstick and kicked off the ground, spectating the two groups below. He already rolled his eyes as he saw Sirius flirting with some fifth year, leaning against his broomstick casually.

‘Padfoot!’ James yelled, catching his best mates attention. Sirius looked up to him and James snapped his fingers a few times. Sirius tossed his own eyes to the back of his head before gathering some authority and heading to the front of the group where Edward was already standing.

‘Hi, I’m Sirius, I’m the Beater for Gryffindor, and I’m here to find my other half,’ Sirius said, throwing a wink to three girls who were giggling away at his attention towards them. Anyone within a ten mile radius could see that they were far from interested in playing Quidditch.

‘Speed it up, Black, before we all boke,’ Edward sighed. He wasn’t too keen on being paired up with Sirius in the first place, but he had noticed that James had been keeping annoyingly close to Marlene every time he was near her.

‘We’re going to start off with a few warm-up drills and then we’ll get into the training,’ Sirius finished off, Edward passing him a bag of equipment.

As it could be guessed, Sirius was the worst for being easily distracted by anything with long hair and that could string two words together. He was getting the trainings and auditions done, but he was appearing to be the biggest obstacle the applicants had to overcome, rather than the angry metal Bludgers that were flying in every direction.

‘He’s a bit of a tosser, isn’t he,’ Lewis muttered to Marlene as they set up the applicant Keepers against each other and in doing so, allowed themselves to get distracted by the shenanigans going on at the other end of the pitch.

‘You’re only just figuring that out now?’ Marlene chuckled pressing her weight against her broomstick.

‘How does he do it? Girls just fawn at his feet for some reason, well, except your group of course. You lot seem to have your heads screwed on straight,’ Lewis grinned. He always found Sirius’s antics funny, unlike the other boys in the school, who often got jealous of his success with girls.

‘Don’t ask me, I don’t understand it either. He’s a bit of an arrogant arse in my opinion, but I guess he’s sort of good. _Deep_ down,’ Marlene laughed. Lewis looked down to her curiously.

‘You know what I find fascinating,’ Lewis said.

‘What?’

‘You’re easily one of the prettiest girls in the school, every guy knows it. You must have one asking you out at least every day, so is there no one tickling your fancy?’ Lewis asked cheekily, making Marlene smirk up at him.

‘You asking me out there, Fortescue,’ she teased, and Lewis let out a hearty laugh.

‘No offence, Marls, as gorgeous as you are, I think you’re a bit to feisty for me,’ he winked at her.

‘Fair enough, you’re not my type anyway,’ she returned his taunts.

‘Seriously, though, there’s no one interesting you? Most girls in sixth year can barely think of anything other than when they’re going to get a boyfriend. As normal as your mates are, they’re probably getting their crushes on Merlin knows who. What’s up?’ Lewis asked.

Marlene wasn’t an idiot, far from it. She faced Lewis, eyeing him with suspicion at his questions. She had a hunch she knew what Lewis was trying to get out of her, and she would never give the person she was sure he working for the satisfaction of having her.

‘Who are you working for, Fortescue?’ she queried, the amusement dying from her voice. Lewis rolled his eyes.

‘Alright, you’ve got me,’ he admitted. ‘Edward asked me to do a bit of coaxing. He was just trying to see if you were interested in anyone, I think it’s pretty obvious he’s got a crush on you. He’s kind of desperate to ask you to Hogsmeade.’

Marlene tried to not show it quite so obviously that she was seething. Hadn’t he got the message yet? She was never going to be interested in him, especially not after what he pulled that day when she tried to go to the kitchens.

‘Well, you can tell your grimy little friend, that I wouldn’t go out with him if he was the last guy on earth. If it was up to me, I’d have him kicked of this fucking Quidditch team after how he acted,’ Marlene seethed, ready to storm off into the midst of the trails, but Lewis caught her upper arm gently.

‘Woah, McKinnon, what’s brought this on. I get that he can be a bit annoying, but surely he’s not done anything so awful to deserve the reaction,’ Lewis defended his mate. Marlene tugged her arm aggressively out of his grasp.

‘I pity the girl who ends up with him. Truly, and it sure as hell isn’t going to be me,’ she growled, and moved herself back into the action, yelling at one of the third years to improve their brooms posture.

One by one, the candidates were eliminated by James, who flew happily around the pitch, inspecting the potential prodigies. Once there were only three candidates left, James called it a day for the trails and sent the six probabilities packing and hustled the rest of his team into the Gryffindor den to discuss them. Sirius noticed that Marlene seemed to be sticking to him closer than usual, which made him smirk.

‘Right, so what are we thinking?’ James asked, stood in front of his team as they sat before him on the benches.

‘Ella Creatle for Keeper, no question about it,’ Marlene spoke glumly, her mood thoroughly ruined for the rest of the day.

‘Really? She’s only a second year. Callum Pinstol was good, and he’s in fourth year, more experienced,’ James argued, which made Marlene scoffed.

‘Your logic is so fucking flawed in this year thing! If anything, it’s better to take someone younger, they’re easier to train up, and I don’t know where you’re getting this experience thing from. There’s a reason he didn’t get on the Quidditch team in the first place,’ Marlene retorted furiously, to the point where she took James aback a little with her temper. ‘Besides, let’s finally have another fucking girl on the team, it’s about time.’

‘Alright, Creatle it is, we’ll let her know tomorrow,’ James replied complacently, not wanting to bring out the Veela in Marlene any further. ‘Sirius, what about you, who did you like for Beater?’

‘It was sexy how you kept calling me “Black”, Prongs,’ Sirius grinned lazily, making James smirk with amusement.

‘There’s no point even asking him, he wasn’t paying attention half the time,’ Edward scoffed, crossing his arms. He had quite a trying day, keeping Sirius focused on the task at hand, rather than the girls.

‘Alright, let’s calm down, Sirius, seriously,’ James intensified his manner, but was already prepared for the joke that was awaiting him.

‘Aren’t I always,’ Sirius chuckled. ‘Nah, I liked that Cillian Wrackfure fella, he was the one who worked best with me I’d say. He’s in fifth year.’

‘We are missing an Irishman on the team as well,’ James reminisced to Rumsfeld. ‘Well, if that’s who you think will work the best with us, then I say we take him, keep the Irish Beater tradition alive.’

‘If that’s us done, can we go then? I want to make sure that Alice and Frank don’t assume they can use our dorm for whatever disgusting stuff it is they do,’ Lewis chuckled, Edward humming in agreement.

‘Why, were the on a date or something?’ James asked, starting to take off the first layer of his robes as they started filing out of the room to change.

‘Yep,’ Marlene muttered, and she left straight away rather than getting changed in the girls room.

‘What is up with her?’ Lewis asked, frowning deeply at her reactions.

‘She’s probably just having a rough day, leave her be, you know how girls can be,’ James defended her kindly. He wouldn’t let a bad word be said against the blonde.

‘Probably on her period,’ Sirius sniggered.

‘Charming.’

Frank, Alice, and Dorcas were sat by the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, Dorcas doing the usual role of badgering them for details about their date. Dorcas was a hopeless romantic through and through, and she knew that she was currently living vicariously through Alice and Frank with their relationship. The seemed unbelievably perfect for one another.

‘It really wasn’t anything all that exciting, Cas,’ Frank chuckled as Dorcas listened to Alice talk about their date like a small child being told a bedtime story. Dorcas waved off his comment.

‘Oh shush, you two are completely and utterly adorable, it’s too sweet. Honestly, you’re making me too jealous of it, it’s almost unbearable,’ Dorcas gushed as she finally leaned back into her armchair, picking up the Charms essay that she’d left abandoned before Alice and Frank walked in.

‘Actually, I was going to ask, anything new on the romance front with you that I don’t know about? Any boys?’ Alice wiggled her eyebrows suggestively to which Dorcas simply huffed.

‘You know for a fact that you’d be the first one to hear about anything, Alice Fortescue,’ Dorcas smiled. ‘Which means no. I’m just living my lonely little life.’

‘Tad overdramatic there, Cas,’ Frank laughed at Dorcas’s wording.

‘What’s new?’ Lily chuckled as she joined them, throwing her bag on the floor.

‘Another Library day?’ Alice asked sympathetically. They still hadn’t been able to make Lily talk.

‘Yeah, I ended up getting quite a good view of the Gryffindor Quidditch trials while I was there,’ Lilt told them. ‘It was mostly just Black being an arse and flirting with every girl within a five mile radius.’

‘Marlene too?’ Dorcas asked comically, sucking on the end of her quill as she attempted to finish a thought.

‘Marls would thwack him over the head with her broomstick before he even managed to get five miles near her,’ Lily responded.

‘He’s been a lot more intense on the girl front recently, don’t you think?’ Frank quizzed, thinking over the actions Sirius had been taking ever since he’d gone into sixth year.

‘Ugh, I have no interest discussing Black,’ Lily huffed, fishing a book out of her bag. She had deduced her and Sirius’s late night encounter in the Common Room down to an unimaginable and out of character happenstance. The Sirius she’d spoken to that night, hadn’t showed up since, especially as his night-time shenanigans were going. From what was circling in rumours, Sirius hadn’t spent the last week in his own bed.

‘It’s Sirius, I wouldn’t read too far into it,’ Alice snuggled into Frank’s shoulder. ‘He’s got fuckboy in his veins.’

‘You talking about Sirius?’ Remus asked as he sat down next to Dorcas, who’s eyes instantly went to him.

‘We were just discussing your friends recent antics,’ Frank filled him in, to which Remus nodded, understanding the appeal.

‘Is it true he hasn’t slept in his own bed for the past week?’ Alice asked, to which Remus raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

‘You actually believe those bloody rumours? C’mon, Al, thought you were even a bit smarter than that,’ Remus teased, throwing his arm over the back of the seat where Dorcas was sitting. She hoped nobody would notice the blush that started to creep up her neck.

‘Well, when it’s all you have to go on,’ Lily stated matter-of-factly.

‘He never actually stays with them, that’s just something they all make up. He’s always back in his own bed by the morning, the lad doesn’t actually have any interest in the girls he sleeps with. He never brings girls back to the dorm,’ Remus set the gossip straight. He was never too keen on the rumours that circled his friendship group, so whenever he could, he fixed the hearsay.

‘What, so he just leaves them after whatever he does whatever he does with them? That’s sick,’ Lily looked deeply disgusted by the private (or not so private) life of Sirius Black.

‘I know he’s not exactly morally right at any point, but just let him do what he wants,’ Remus waved off the insults, tired of talking about Sirius’s girls. He heard enough about them from Sirius as it was.

Alice opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a raging blonde, Marlene McKinnon storming into the Common Room. Her eyes caught Frank and she stopped in her tracks for a second, glaring rather viciously.

‘Keep your fucking mates away from me, I’ve no interest in them,’ she hissed at Frank, who’s eyes were wide from the attack, and they watched as Marlene disappeared up the dormitory stairs without a glance back.

‘What the hell was that about?’ Dorcas spoke, for the first time in a while.

‘What have I done?’ Frank exasperated.

‘I’ll go talk to her,’ Alice bit her lip, patting Frank’s thigh before standing up to follow her friend.

‘Want me to come with you?’ Lily asked, also looking shocked by the outburst of the blonde.

‘No, it’s okay. I think I might have an idea of what this is about,’ Alice refused cryptically, and went after Marlene.

She found Marlene lying on her back in her bed, legs dangling over the edge and still clad in her scarlet Quidditch robes. She was breathing slowly and heavily, with her hands on her stomach as though trying to calm herself down. Alice walked over cautiously, not particularly in the mood to have the Veela side of Marlene lash out at her.

‘What’s up?’ Alice asked, sitting down on the bed next to Marlene’s. ‘Why’d you lash out at Frank?’

‘Because his mates are dickheads,’ Marlene groaned, opening her eyes to look at Alice. ‘And you haven’t exactly helped.’

‘What did I do?’ asked Alice defensively, not about to succumb to the Scottish temper.

‘Well, you didn’t exactly help this situation by saying you’d talk him up to me. All just because you were too fucking scared to expose yourself and Frank,’ Marlene said bitterly.

Alice scoffed at her friends words. She crossed her arms over her chest, an action which was often followed by a life lecture, they type nobody wanted to, but had to hear.

‘Then why the fuck did you sleep with him in the first place?’ Alice asked bluntly, catching the blonde of guard. Marlene froze and looked up at Alice, clearly not expecting to be hit with that type of question.

‘How in Merlin’s name do you know about that?’ Marlene asked, her voiced hushed with surprise. Alice let out a cold laugh.

‘You see, Marls, the beauty of actually knowing the guy you’re getting into bed with is the fact that you can be confident that he won’t spread shit around. Most guys don’t do it anyway, ‘cause their decent, but we all know you don’t really have the best taste in guys. You’re delusional if you thought you could sleep with Edward Tate and not have him use it against you or your friends. So don’t come at me because you got drunk and acted like an idiot,’ Alice scolded, staring down Marlene who clearly didn’t want to hear it.

‘Nice subtle slut-shame there,’ she sulked, infuriating Alice further.

‘Oh, grow up! You made your bed, now lie in it. Maybe if you stopped leading guys on, you wouldn’t have to deal with these situations!’ Alice continued.

‘For Merlin’s sake, you’re not my mother, are you done with the lecture already?’ Marlene raised here voice, standing up so she was eye-level with Alice.

‘You do what you want, Marls, I don’t particularly care who you sleep with. But don’t start blaming the world for your stupid mistakes when they come to bite you in the arse,’ Alice argued before storming out of the room, leaving Marlene alone in the dormitory to wallow.

She went back down to the Common Room to find Frank, now by himself, in front of the fire, eyes closed as he allowed himself to relax. Alice was trying to keep him as calm as possible recently, with only a month into school and NEWTs were already stressing him out badly.

Alice collapsed down next to him on the sofa, moving his arm so it rested around her shoulders and she cuddled into him. Frank looked down to his girlfriend curiously, seeing the frustration that had brewed up inside her.

‘What happened, Gem?’ Frank asked, rubbing a hand along her arm, and felt her relax into him. If anyone had the talent to relax Alice completely, it was Frank.

‘I’m good, don’t worry. Marls and I just had a little tiff, but she’ll come round. She knows deep down that she’s in the wrong.’

‘Is it something to do with Edward?’ Frank asked, a sigh resting on his lips.

‘How did you know?’

‘I can’t lie, it is a little weird how obsessed he is with her. I mean, we know they slept together, but he should have known what he was getting into. Marlene was never one to commit, and I doubt Ed would be the type to convince her too,’ Frank said simply.

‘She doesn’t have the best taste in guys. She just seems so emotionless, detached, from all the romantic stuff. It’s strange, almost,’ Alice voiced her thoughts, playing with a strand of her hair.

‘She doesn’t need a boyfriend if she doesn’t want one,’ Frank played devil’s advocate.

‘I know, and I have no issue with it. But it makes me want to hex boys into next year with the way they talk about her. I know she’s pretty, but they talk about her as if she’s a prize to be won. It’s disgusting,’ Alice frowned.

‘If there’s anyone who can handle bigots like that, it’s Marlene McKinnon.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! :) Let me know what you think of this chapter, as I'm curious. I personally feel like Marls lashing out at Frank wasn't needed and a tad overdramatic, but no character's perfect :) Also, what kind of Captain are we hoping James will be, and what are we feeling about Sirius's antics?  
> I can't believe I've kept forgetting to say this, but if you guys ever want to send me a message or something, then please talk to me on Tumblr, I'm just called SilverThestral there as well, and if there's any other stories you'd also like me to write, just drop me a message on there and I'll try as quickly as possible to get round to it. Send me prompts!! :)  
> Also, I keep forgetting to ask this, what Hogwarts house are you all in. I kind of float between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, but apparently I'm becoming more of a Ravenclaw everyday :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	44. The Splinching Disaster

‘And if you decide to pull something like this again, you can forget about attending Apparition lessons this year, I don’t care if you’ve paid for them!’ Professor McGonagall glowered behind her desk as she stared down at four sixth year boys in front of her, and circumstance she found herself in at least once a week.

‘See, the thing is, Minnie, that class has already started, and we’re kind of late for it, so do you mind if we just go?’ James said cheekily, throwing a wink in the Professor’s direction. McGonagall’s gaze hardened.

‘You are trying your luck, Mr Potter, I’d advise you to be careful when pulling your little stunts,’ McGonagall warned, but despite the sour look on her face, there was a twinkle in her eye. ‘Now go, and you better be on your best behaviour in that class, or I’ll double your detention!’

‘Yes, Minnie, we won’t disappoint you!’ Sirius taunted, but the four boys ran out of the classroom before their Head of House could scold them again.

With the seven o’clock October darkness settling in, the boys ran from Professor McGonagall’s to the Great Hall, where they found many of those in their year, along with a few dotted seventh years, along with Wilkie Twycross, a Ministry of Magic employee who taught the students on a weekly basis. As Professor Twycross was speaking gently to the students, using many hand gestures to emphasise her points, the boys snuck into the back of the crowd, blending in with the sea of colours.

James had been feeling rather distracted that day. Namely by a girl with raven black hair that his eyes kept flitting to every now and again. He knew he had to be more careful, especially when surrounded by the rest of the Marauders. Although Sirius didn’t like to admit it, he was easily the sharpest knife in the drawer and could pick up any strange behaviour, particularly if it was coming from James.

‘Why are you being so fidgety?’ Remus suddenly asked from behind him, the fresh scar on his forehead disappearing into one of his bushy eyebrows as he frowned.

‘Nothing,’ James responded quickly.

‘That is the basic theory of Apparition and Disapparition. Please remember that “apparating” refers to the place where you _appear,_ and “disapparating” refers to the area from which you have _disappeared_ from. Now, can anyone explain to me what “splinching” is?’ Twycross scanned the room before reaching the outstretched hand of Lily. ‘Yes, Miss -’

‘Evans, Professor. It’s when someone apparates or disapparates unsuccessfully,’ Lily said, earning a triumphed smile from the Professor.

‘Precisely, Miss Evans. Splinching is the separation of random body parts which occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined on the task at hand, much like how one of your spells or potions may go wrong in class if you are not focused on it enough, things start to go wrong. In Apparition, you must concentrate continually upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation. Splinching can range from being as painless as leaving half an eyebrow behind, to leaving an entire leg or arm or even half your body from where you disapparated. Damage is usually repairable, even if life-threatening, but I’d rather we not have to repair anything today,’ Professor Twycross finished cheerily.

The class drew a collective breath at the small, wiry witch’s words. Professor Twycross didn’t seem at all affected by their reaction, clearly finding it amusing to slip in the fact that Apparition could be life-threatening into her explanations.

‘I didn’t know it was that dangerous,’ Lily whispered to Dorcas, who nodded gently, her brown eyes wide.

‘Now, I want you to find partners, preferably with folk who you don’t speak with every day or aren’t too friendly with so you can keep completely focused on the task at hand. I don’t want any gossiping and then screaming in the midst of it all,’ Professor Twycross grinned at them.

‘Merlin, she’s really not selling this well, is she,’ Remus chuckled as students started to move around, getting into groups to provide moral support for each other in the apparent torture that was apparating.

‘Especially if she thinks we aren’t doing this together, this is going to be sick,’ Sirius cackled, grabbing the four of them a spot in the corner of the Hall.

‘What do you reckon he has planned?’ James muttered in Remus’s ear.

‘Don’t know, don’t want to know, hope I never get to know,’ Remus groaned in return, running a hand down his face as he watched the gleam of mischief grow in Sirius’s eye as they walked over to join him.

‘Hey, Lily,’ Gideon Prewett sounded at the other end of the Hall, tapping the red head on the shoulder to grab her attention. ‘Want to pair up? I reckon we could keep each other focused,’ he continued with a chortle.

‘Oh, um, I think -’ Lily started, but she suddenly felt a hand on her back pushing her forward into the ginger haired boy, almost knocking the two of them together.

‘Go, you idiot, make more-than-friends,’ Marlene hissed in her ear, Lily yelping in surprise from the shove. She heard Gideon’s light chuckles at the action, leaving Lily to glare at the blonde.

‘Marlene, Fabian needs a partner as well if you’d like to go with him, seeing as I’m stealing yours,’ Gideon offered, Fabian coming to meet his brother shoulder to shoulder, giving Marlene a little wave.

The two twins were very handsome, with their red hair pushed upright, adding an extra inch or two to their already tall height. Despite being identical, they did have specific looks to each of them, with Fabian stockier with more curly hair, with Gideon was lankier, his cheekbones slightly sharper. They both, however, had the same handsome smile and chocolate brown eyes.

‘Oh sure, why not. Let’s see what’s the worst part of the body we can leave behind,’ Marlene said crudely, slamming her hand onto Fabian’s shoulder and leading him away. Lily chuckled at their retreating backs.

‘Poor guy, I hope he survives Marls’ jokes,’ Lily giggled, Gideon grinning back at her.

‘There’s definitely some fear running through his head right now. I reckon there’s one area he’s bloody hoping doesn’t get left behind,’ Gideon chuckled suggestively.

The Hall was soon filled with a sea of faces that looked on the brink of constipation mixed with a flush of embarrassment. Quite a few students ending up lying on the floor from a loss of balance due to their immense concentration, Professor Twycross assured them that it was a completely normal side effect, but that didn’t stop Peter wanting to curl up in a corner, away from the leering eyes and bursts of laughter around him. The only way he’d moved was from a higher position to lower one.

‘That was something special, Wormtail,’ Sirius reacted gleefully as Peter continued changing, his face now changing from red to purple.

‘Shut up,’ he mumbled, grabbing Remus’s arm to pull himself up and get himself out of the apparition space for James to replace him.

‘Hey Peter,’ Mary Macdonald suddenly appeared by his side. Peter couldn’t have blushed more at that moment in time if he tried.

Peter had always thought that Mary Macdonald was extremely pretty, not that he’d ever said it out loud. He knew Mary was too good for him, and so he’d never tried to pursue anything. Quite frankly, they had only exchanged words a handful of times over their years at Hogwarts, and he certainly hadn’t ever mentioned anything to the boys. He knew he’d end up being teased and taunted until he was six feet under for his interest, but that didn’t stop him from noticing how her honey-brown hair waved playfully in the breeze.

‘H-hi Mary,’ he stuttered, his gaze instantly shooting to his feet in shyness. He was never confident around girls, he left that department to the other three boys. Peter could never understand how James and Sirius could be so comfortable around the likes of girls.

‘It works better if you don’t focus so hard on focusing,’ Mary said kindly with a gentle smile. ‘Just forget about that. Picture yourself standing by the Points Hourglasses. It’ll never work if you don’t put everything into where you’re going.

‘Th-thank you, M-Mary,’ Peter cursed himself for his spluttering reaction to a pretty girl conversing with him.

‘Any time, Pete,’ she smiled again, before heading off back to her partner, a few feet away. Peter felt faint at the nickname the Hufflepuff used to address him.

‘Damn, Wormy. Mary Macdonald, not a bad lass there,’ Peter heard Sirius’s taunting voice before her felt his arm fall to drape over him. ‘She’s a little sweetheart, and none of us have shagged her yet.’

‘Merlin’s beard, do you mind! None of us want to hear about your sex life while we’re trying to literally teleport,’ Remus told Sirius off, which only spurred the eldest Black brother on.

‘We’re not discussing _my_ sex life Moony, we’re discussing Wormtail’s! Macdonald’s nowhere near my type anyway,’ Sirius snorted. Peter thanked Remus happily for getting the topic of conversation off of him.

‘And what is your type exactly? Anything that moves?’ James asked sarcastically.

‘Holy shit, no, I’m not that desperate,’ Sirius replied, mockingly placing his hand over his heart. ‘I like long legs, that’s one of the aspects that turn me on.’

‘And blonde,’ Remus muttered under his breath, so no one heard him.

‘What was that, Moony?’ Sirius pried, being nosy as usual.

‘Nothing, don’t reply, Moony. I want to get him off this topic as quickly as possible,’ James grumbled, to which Remus hummed in agreement.

‘You guys are no fun,’ Sirius crossed his arms over, resembling a toddler in his stance as he stuck out his bottom lip slightly. ‘With you guys all pining over girls, I get no fun in! Come on, will one of you just start acting like a normal guy!’

‘We are all normal, thank you! And I’m not pining over anyone, I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ James defended himself as he was now successfully managing to apparate a mere foot from where he was originally standing, although Twycross had pointed out that it was very successful for the first lesson.

‘Oh, please, if Evans came up to you and offered you a shag, you wouldn’t say no if you were offered ten million galleons to,’ Sirius reprimanded, causing a heat to crawl up James’s neck as his eyes flickered back to the raven haired girl for a second.

‘Fuck off, mate,’ he muttered, moving aside so Remus could restart his apparition attempts.

Apparition for Lily, so far, was going extremely well. She had managed to travel about three feet away from where she was standing, with Gideon grandly applauding her for each of her successes. He was struggling more than Lily was, but she was very encouraging and helped him in visualising where he wanted to go. He too, had lost his balance several times during the lesson, but Lily was there to hold him steady as a result. With her help, Gideon had also, so far, prevented any splinching, which he greatly credited her too. As much as she hated it, it made her blush every time he would complement her on it.

‘I reckon by the twelfth week, I’ll get there,’ Gideon laughed self-deprecatingly, making Lily roll her eyes and rub her hand over his shoulder comfortingly.

‘Stop being so hard on yourself! It’s only the first week, hardly anyone has been able to even move a limb yet!’ Lily tried to reason with him, to which Gideon simply smiled.

‘Well, Miss Evans, you must have a natural gift for this, because you have apparated several times, and not splinched yourself once. I think the only other person to have managed that at the minute is Potter!’ Gideon praised her, but Lily simply waved him off.

‘I think it’s down to luck. Besides, I think if we keep on being partners, we’ll be having you smoothly apparating to Hogsmeade in no time!’ Lily cheered.

‘You need to brush up on your Hogwarts history, Lily,’ Gideon teased with a wink. ‘You can’t apparate in and out of Hogwarts. However, there is no chance I’m letting anyone else steal you as my partner, I haven’t splinched myself yet for a reason.’

Lil grinned and opened her mouth to reply but was cut off before any sound could begin to leave her mouth.

A piercing scream filled the Great Hal, reverberating off the walls and into the eardrums of every student present. Everyone’s heads whipped round to see Emmeline Vance, who had splinched herself to what looked like beyond repair. Her whole left leg and her left arm up to her elbow were left about four feet behind her and she was crying in some of the worst agony Lily had ever heard. She looked to her right to see that Gideon had already disappeared to see him sprinting around students to get to his girlfriend.

Gideon cupped Emmeline’s face in his hands in attempts to calm her down as Madam Pomfrey rushed in with a stretcher gliding along behind her, muttering about how ridiculous Apparition lessons were. With her severed limbs, Emmeline was hoisted onto the stretcher, and Madam Pomfrey rushed her out of the Great Hall to the Hospital Wing, with Gideon, Aurora and Violet close behind her.

The rest left in the Great Hall were shaken after that. Seeing Emmeline splinched that badly left a queasy feeling in their stomach and an unwillingness to perform any further teleportation skills. Professor Twycross, although unfazed herself, knew that there was no point continuing the lesson with the students. None of them would be able to focus properly, which would only lead to more splinching.

‘Alright, I think that’s enough for today. I’ll see you all next week for the next lesson, and please do not worry about Miss Vance. She will be _absolutely_ fine, Madam Pomfrey knows fine well how to patch her up,’ Twycross laughed awkwardly, before the pupils started making their way out of the Hall.

Lily and the rest of the Gryffindor’s were huddled in Common Room, biting their nails in anticipation for Gideon, or Emmeline’s best friends, or Emmeline herself to return, although Emmeline returning that night seemed unlikely. They let out a collective sigh of relief once Aurora and Violet entered the Common Room, looking exhausted but relieved, which allowed everyone to release a collective breath.

‘How is she?’ Dorcas instantly ask, embracing Aurora and Violet in a hug.

‘She alright. Tired and sore, but Madam Pomfrey patched her up well,’ Violet reassured them all, pushing her hair out of her face.

‘Gideon’s with her there now, but he’ll be up soon. Pomfrey said she’s staying there tonight and then she’ll be able to have visitors tomorrow,’ Aurora expanded.

Lily, after lunch the next day, decided to head up to the Hospital Wing to visit Emmeline. She had been feeling awfully worried for her ever since the splinching happened and was desperate to visit her. Although Emmeline could be tricky at times, but that didn’t make Lily care for her any less. Conjuring up some flowers and grabbing a few chocolate frogs along the way, she entered the large doorway to the sterilized room.

Emmeline was lying near the back windows, with a pop of red hair beside her. The closer Lily walked to her, she saw Gideon holding hands with the injured brunette, who’s limbs were now all attached to her body. They were giggling and laughing away at each other, along with a plethora of gifts, cards and sweets littered at the foot of the bed.

Lily walked up as gently as possible, Emmeline turning her head to see her only once she was quite near. A wide smile spread on Emmeline’s face as Lily walked over, with Gideon offering a small wave.

‘Lily! How good to see you!’ Emmeline exclaimed, pulling the redhead in for a hug once she was close enough. She handed Emmeline the flowers and chocolates, which she accepted graciously. ‘You really didn’t have to, Lils, but thank you so much!’

‘Thanks, Lily, she coming along well,’ Gideon smiled down to his girlfriend, kissing Emmeline on her temple, to which she giggled.

‘You’re making it sound like I’m terminally ill, silly! Madam Pomfrey said I’ll be as right as rain tomorrow,’ Emmeline replied, lovingly pushing some of Gideon’s hair out of his eyes. Lily swallowed.

‘Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better, Em, we were all so worried,’ Lily said, smiling somewhat forcibly at the couple in front of her. Emmeline waved her off.

‘Oh, there was really no need to be worried at all, I was in good hands!’ the brunette reassured. ‘Gideon, sweetie, would you be a gem and get me a glass of pumpkin juice from the Great Hall? I’ve been dying for a glass,’ Emmeline asked sweetly, Gideon nodding enthusiastically.

‘Oh, no Emmeline, let me go get that for you, Gideon can stay with you,’ Lily offered, but Gideon shook his head.

‘No, Lils, you stay here and keep this beautiful girl company. I need to go and grab a bite anyway, I haven’t eaten any lunch yet,’ Gideon argued, planting a kiss on Emmeline’s lips.

‘Thank you, sweetie. He’s been here all of lunch with me bless him, he’s been amazing,’ Emmeline’s voice reached Lily’s ears as the two girls watched the boy step out of the Hospital Wing. With a shy smile on her face, Lily turned back to Emmeline to be met with one of the coldest glares that had ever been directed Lily’s way, a glare that was worse than any one of Petunia’s.

‘Emmeline, are you okay -’

‘Keep the fuck _away_ from my boyfriend, or I will make you eat shit,’ Emmeline said menacingly, once she was sure that Gideon was completely out of earshot. Lily’s eyes widened at the threat.

‘Em, I have no idea what you’re talking about!’ Lily defended, which lead to Emmeline instantly rolling her eyes.

‘Don’t act dumb with me, Evans. I know you fancy the fuck out of my boyfriend, and I don’t really appreciate you ogling him every second of every day,’ Emmeline shot daggers at the classmate in front of her. ‘You’re to stay away from Gideon and anything to do with him, or I won’t act nice anymore. I’ve been putting up with it for a while now, and quite honestly, I can’t be arsed anymore.’

‘Emmeline, I never -’

‘Yes you have, and you never will again,’ Emmeline now smirked evilly. ‘You really think I splinched on purpose? My dad already taught me how to apparate over the summer, I know perfectly well what I’m doing. I splinched myself to get your hands away from Gideon, and they better stay that way. And if you ever think about getting any ideas, I’ll do something much worse to you than splinching.’

Lily’s voice was completely caught in her throat after Emmeline’s words. Her face suddenly broke out into a beautiful smile again as Gideon walked up to her with a glass of pumpkin juice and a pastry wrapped in a few napkins for her.

‘Thank you so much, sweetie, what would I do without you?’ Emmeline gushed, purposefully kissing him hard in front of Lily. Gideon grinned before looking up from his girlfriend.

‘You okay there, Lils, you seem a bit put out?’ Gideon asked distractedly, sitting back down in the chair next to Emmeline’s bed. Lily jumped at his question, having dozed out for a second.

‘Oh, she’s fine, I was just describing what splinching felt like and I think I freaked her out a bit,’ Emmeline giggled. ‘You’re all good, aren’t you, Lils?’ she added with a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

‘Yes, of course, I’m fine. Well, you rest up well, Em, I’m leaving you in good hands and I’ll see you later,’ Lily spluttered and made her way out of the Hospital Wing. If the couple called anything out to her, she couldn’t hear it, her head fuzzy with Emmeline’s threats.

She ran back to the Common Room, breathing heavily at what had just happened. She ran straight up to her dormitory before anyone could catch her where she knew Marlene was and burst into the room clad with four-poster beds. Marlene looked up in surprise, which quickly changed to worry as she took in Lily’s appearance.

‘Merlin’s beard, what happened to you?’ Marlene asked.

Lily collapsed onto the bed and started explaining everything that happened. Throughout the story, Marlene’s face grew evermore stoic and angry. Once Lily finished, Marlene glared at the floor for a while before passing comment.

‘Fucking bitch, man. I never liked her,’ Marlene spat.

‘I mean, I guess I see where she’s coming from, though. He is her boyfriend, I just hadn’t realised I’d overstepped the mark,’ Lily said, doing what she always done and began blaming herself.

‘No matter, Lils. There’s a fucking better way to go about a situation than that.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo .... we had a bit of a tense chapter there. What are your thoughts on Emmeline, let me know. either way, she's a hell of an interesting character in my eyes :/  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I did feel like we were missing a little Emmeline drama, so she's back ;) also, I'm very sorry that this is up later than usual, ya gal has been very busy with packing for uni as I literally move on SUNDAY (what the actual fuck) and there is way too much stuck that I want to bring. Decoration is key people!!  
> Also, how freaking adorable is Peter in this chapter!! Putting aside all the traitor stuff, I just want to squeeze his cheeks for the cuteness ahaha :)  
> I hope you're all doing well and loving life,  
> Love, Julia xx


	45. Wholly Headless Knights

There was a distinctive nip in the air as Dumbledore travelled down the Hogwarts grounds to the landscape that upheld the groundskeeper’s wooden hut next to the next to the dense clot of trees that formed the Forbidden Forest. A large mass of man could easily be seen in the vegetable patch just between the hut and the Forest, cutting the abnormally huge, bright orange pumpkins.

Hallowe’en hung in the atmosphere with a tang, one that Dumbledore particularly loved. He had just finished up organising the final details for the Hallowe’en feast in his office before he decided to hitch the hike to Hagrid’s place of residence.

Dumbledore was difficult to miss, in his powder blue robes and long, white beard. Hagrid looked up through his shaggy mane and his eyes lit up, struggling with one of the large pumpkins he’d just cut for the feast.

‘Professor Dumbledore, sir,’ Hagrid called out cheerfully as he made his way over the elderly wizard. ‘What can I do for yeh, sir?’

‘Good afternoon, Hagrid,’ Dumbledore greeted, eyes twinkling at the half-giant. ‘Those pumpkins are coming along very nicely. I dare say, they might be some of the best you’ve ever grown,’ he continued, praising the orange vegetable. Stood beside a collection that Hagrid had already removed from the ground, some of them reached up to Dumbledore’s hipbone in size.

‘Thank you, Professor! Used a few charms on ‘em, I can’t lie, but it’s worth it for how they came out,’ Hagrid grinned, warm dark eyes smiling.

‘Would you care for some tea, Hagrid? I could do with a little seat by a fire, it’s quite chilly,’ Dumbledore offered, to which Hagrid instantly jumped to action.

‘O’ course, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Please, come in, I’ll get the tea brewin’ in no time,’ Hagrid ushered Dumbledore into the hut, almost sweeping the Professor off the ground as he did so.

Dumbledore thankfully sat down on one of the chairs adorned with a squishy seat pillow as Hagrid set himself up, making spotty tankards full of the sweet, hot substance. Placing down a plate full of biscuits and poking the embers of the fire where his dog, Fang, was lazing in front of. As the kettle boiled, he sat down in front of Dumbledore, shaking the cabin with his landing.

‘So, what was it yeh wanted ter talk about, Professor?’ Hagrid asked, eyes shining with admiration and respect for the wizard sat in front of him.

Dumbledore sighed, breathing out deeply.

‘I know that what I am about to discuss with you isn’t a topic you are particularly fond of, Hagrid, but it is one that must be discussed, no matter how uncomfortable,’ Dumbledore said cryptically, causing Hagrid to drop his happy expression.

‘Sir?’ Hagrid questioned simply, unsure of what the Headmaster was leading to.

‘It has to do with the topic of your expulsion, Hagrid, and I apologise. I know this is difficult,’ Dumbledore bowed his head slightly at his notions.

‘Ah,’ Hagrid acknowledged. The kettle started whistling and he stood up to pour the two mugs of tea, the cups large than Dumbledore’s hands. Hagrid placed the saucers down before sitting himself down again. ‘Go on.’

‘I know you were in different houses and probably rarely interacted, but, Hagrid, I need you to tell me what you remember about Tom Riddle, from a student’s perspective. His mannerisms, his attitude towards other students,’ Dumbledore said, his hands shaking as he picked up the mug to take a sip of tea.

‘I’m not sure, sir, I don’t think there’s much I can really say -’ Hagrid started, but Dumbledore interrupted him, shaking his head.

‘Anything, Hagrid. How did he treat you when you were to be expelled?’ Dumbledore asked bluntly. Hagrid shrunk it to himself, somehow becoming impossible smaller, opening up the space in the small cabin.

‘We didn’t really talk much -’

‘How did he treat you when he told you he would get you expelled?’ Dumbledore asked darkly, to which Hagrid’s eyes widened with shock.

‘You know about tha’?’ Hagrid whispered, the words barely leaving his throat. Dumbledore nodded kindly.

‘I know more than what most people think. I also know about Aragog,’ Dumbledore said with a wink and Hagrid gasped.

Aragog was Hagrid’s Acromantula, who was given to him by a traveller who had kept the spider egg in his pocket. Hagrid had kept Aragog in an old chest while he attended Hogwarts, but in his third year, was expelled as a result of him. Riddle had gone to Headmaster Dippet and turned Hagrid in for keeping Aragog in the school and convicted the spider of murdering a girl in the toilets. A third year student, Hagrid was expelled.

Hagrid knew Aragog was innocent, he hadn’t killed anyone, but Riddle’s story added up too well and was too believable for Hagrid to argue against. His wand was snapped and once it was settled with Dumbledore that Hagrid could stay on as groundskeeper for the school, Hagrid took Aragog to live in the Forbidden Forest, where he remained to this day in secret. He found Aragog a wife and they settled in and made a family, but Hagrid still had a deep amount of resentment for Riddle in his heart.

After the meeting for the resistance, the resentment in Hagrid started to develop into hate. The horrible things the once young man was performing, was beyond Hagrid, and it sent him thinking; was it Riddle who had murdered that girl in the bathroom?

‘I never liked him,’ Hagrid put simply. ‘He was always pesterin’ younger students, like me, tryin’ ter humiliate them or threatenin’ them ter do something for him. He was a shifty character. And the way he turned me in … didn’t even give me a chance ter defend myself.’

Hagrid was growling by the end of his statement, Dumbledore nodding understandingly. He had never been a fan of Riddle, and he kept a close eye on the boy after Hagrid was expelled. He agreed, there was something shifty about him, and the fact he was gaining followers and power admiringly quickly, was nerve wracking.

‘Slytherin’s,’ Hagrid snorted. ‘Bad eggs, the lot o’ them.’

‘Do you remember how he was with students in any other way?’ Dumbledore pushed further. ‘How his friends acted towards him?’

‘I wouldn’t say he really had any friends,’ Hagrid answered truthfully. ‘They were more a posse, minions, almost, for ‘im. He never seemed like he needed anyone, he liked being alone. He treated those Slytherin’s almost like a father treats his children, he groomed them. I know that teachers loved him, praised him, but he always seemed sketchy, lurkin’ in corners.’

Dumbledore finished with an expressionless face. Admittedly, Hagrid hadn’t told him anything that Dumbledore hadn’t been aware of or guessed himself.

In October, the light in Scotland faded quickly as Dumbledore glanced out the small windows of Hagrid’s hut. He had arrived in the light and was leaving in the dark.

‘Thank you Hagrid. I’ll leave you to finish the Hallowe’en preparations, and I’ll see you at the feast,’ Dumbledore, nodded and began heading for the door.

‘I’ll never forgive ‘im, you know,’ Hagrid spoke with conviction. ‘I should’ve been a wizard. I should’ve finished Hogwarts. Aragog did nothin’, and I did nothin’.’

‘I know, Hagrid. I know.’

* * *

Alice groaned as she leaned back in her chair, long legs perched up on the desk in front of her as she glared at the ceiling. Her arms hung limply by her side as her stomach growled, begging for her to drop some variety of food to the bottom of it.

‘Struggling there, Fortescue?’ the teasing voice of James Potter crawled into her brain and disturbed the already minimal amount of inner peace she held there.

She lifted her head from pointing at the ceiling and glared at the two Gryffindor boys in front of her.

‘I can’t _believe_ McGonagall made me supervise detention for the two of you, I mean, this is practically torture! I’m missing the start of the feast because of you, and there were rumours that Dumbledore organised for those mini pies to be made, and I’m so hungry!’ Alice ranted, letting her neck drop back in despair so she was staring at the ceiling yet again.

‘Aren’t you only doing this because McGonagall threatened you with a worse form of detention than making you ensure that we do detention?’ Sirius winked at her as he relaxed on the hind legs of his chair, hands linked behind his head.

‘You know, ‘cause you made a giant fork chase Emmeline Vance around the school grounds for some unknown reason,’ James elaborated.

‘Amateur prank, Fortescue,’ Sirius added playfully.

‘Totally worth it, though,’ Alice muttered. ‘The only downside is that I’m now sat babysitting you two idiots for a reason you won’t even tell me.’

‘You won’t tell us why you made Vance so afraid of forks she now can’t eat her food,’ James chuckled, his quill left abandoned on the table from his McGonagall-set mission to write lines.

‘It’s most degrading, seeing a pretty girl like that eating her food with her hands,’ Sirius snorted.

‘Like a dog,’ James winked at his best mate, who raised his brows happily in response.

‘Not that it’s any of your business,’ Alice said snootily, ‘but she completely deserved it.’

‘Vance is harmless. _Annoying_ , yes, but harmless,’ Sirius said, rolling his eyes at Alice’s response.

In her eyes, Alice had a very good reason for making Emmeline run around like an idiot from a charmed flying fork that seemed hell-bent on stabbing her. That’s how the four girls in the group worked. You messed with one of them, and they’d mess with you, that was the custom. Emmeline threatening Lily the way she did about Gideon was a calling for Alice and Marlene to mess with her. Only Alice, however, was caught, knowing her punishment, as a Prefect, would be much less harsh than for Marlene, so she took the blame. 

‘Is Vance one you haven’t fucked yet?’ James asked amusedly, allowing the conversation to take a typically boyish turn. Sirius snorted.

‘Let’s just say, every fit bird would have had to have disappeared for me to fuck Vance. I mean, I like ‘em easy, but she practically gives herself away,’ Sirius replied, spiking Alice’s attention.

‘You know she’s got a boyfriend, right?’ Alice said, but she was intrigued in which way the conversation was going. Sirius looked at her incredulously.

‘Prewett? Yeah, they may be going out, but that means practically nothing to her. She just likes him lapping around her like a puppy dog. But trust me, if I offered it to her, she’d be riding me in this classroom right now if she could, she comes on to me every day,’ Sirius replied, Alice holding her hand up in disgust to stop him.

‘Okay, gross, stop,’ Alice wrinkled her nose, before a slight smirk broke out. ‘But interesting.’

‘She’s a slag, Gideon just doesn’t see it ‘cause of how obsessed he is with her,’ James finished, looking bored at the discussion, as though he’d had it many times. ‘She eye-fucks Sirius every time she sees him.’

‘Aww, thanks honey,’ Sirius sang sarcastically.

The door to the classroom suddenly creaked open, flooding in light from the hallway. Alice turned to see Frank grinning in the doorway at her, in his white school shirt which was rolled up to the elbows and his tie loose around his neck. Alice drank him in. He looked hot, as usual.

‘Hello, you,’ he said shooting her a wink.

‘Franky boy!’ Sirius exclaimed obnoxiously. ‘We’ve missed you!’

‘We haven’t gotten one of your special hugs in _ages_!’ James wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, making Frank chuckled as he gave Alice a peck on the lips.

‘How’s detention going?’ Frank asked, patting his girlfriend on the head to annoy her. She swatted his hand away.

‘We were just discussing what a slag Vance is,’ Alice told him honestly, making Frank laugh.

‘Charming,’ he stated. ‘Anyway, can you leave these two dickheads alone already? The feast has started,’ Frank said, perching on the desk.

‘Unfortunately, no,’ Alice sent a glare James and Sirius’s way again. ‘These two idiots need to be supervised until half six.’

‘Dickhead, wow, Frank, really?’

‘After all we’ve done for you.’

‘All the love we’ve shared.’

‘And this is the treatment we get?’

‘Shameful.’

‘Disgusting.’

‘I swear you two rehearse these before you see certain people,’ Frank grinned, shoving his hands in his pockets, making Alice want to jump him.

‘Give them sweets, it’s a good way to shut them up,’ Alice closed her eyes, hoping to relax a bit more.

‘We’re not dogs, Fortescue, you can’t bribe us with treats,’ Sirius said, but he looked far too amused for Alice’s liking.

‘Yes, I can, and what is it with you two and dogs?’ she asked, frowning, but James and Sirius simply exchanged a knowing look.

‘Can you not just leave these two buffoons for the rest of the time and come with me. They’re big boys, they can handle themselves,’ Frank said teasingly, wrapping his girlfriend in a hug.

‘I would love to, but I would also like to keep my head, which McGonagall will one hundred percent take for herself if she catches me slacking,’ Alice complained, leaning back slightly to look up at Frank.

‘Not if no one tells her, Minnie’ll have Dumbledore making her laugh at the feast and we’ll stay here ‘til half six to save your head,’ James argued the brunette’s point.

‘Yeah, we won’t dish you out, Al. We’ve got your back, despite your amateur pranks,’ Sirius grinned.

‘See, they’re good! Now come on, let’s get out of here, they’re safe on their own!’ Frank pleaded.

Alice was still contemplating, a frown on her face, but Frank caught her lips in another kiss which melted away her frown and made her smirk.

‘Ugh, fine, let’s go. But if I get caught, you’re the one taking the blame!’ Alice said, pointing her finger at Frank comically, making it his turn to now swat away her hand.

‘Alright, stop flirting and get out of here you two, before I throw up!’ Sirius joked, and Frank ushered Alice out of the room before she could retort with a statement about Sirius’s own antics.

Frank and Alice headed down the stairs to the Great Hall, but just as she was about to step into the light of the Great Hall where there were pumpkins flying and skeletons dancing, Frank pulled her away and dragged her towards the direction of the dungeons, much to the protests of Alice.

‘Honey, what the fuck, I’m so hungry!’ Alice whined, looking back longingly at the grand doors before they disappeared behind the doors that led to the dungeons, where it was significantly colder and darker.

‘Don’t worry, we’ll get food later, but I want to show you this!’ Frank grinned, hushing his voice slightly as he led her down the dim-lit corridors.

‘What on earth could there be in these dungeons that you want to show me?’ Alice questioned, but was shocked when she started to hear rather lively music playing down the corridor. ‘Frank, what have you done?’

‘I’ve done nothing, but _this,_ this is sick!’ the dark haired boy laughed as he placed his hands on her waist and pushed her through a small door to a large room. She gasped as she entered.

A bright blue light drenched the chamber, casting a ghostly light over everything, making even Frank and Alice look like ghosts. It was even colder in the chambers that in was in the dungeon corridors and there were long black streamers used for decoration. In the corner on a platform, there was a jaunty band, playing a variety of instruments, albeit badly, along with one that sounded like nails down a chalkboard, but overall, the live entertainment seemed fun. But that wasn’t the corker.

The room was filled with ghosts, from those playing the instruments to those that littered the room, some seemingly trying to dance. Above them hung a large banner;

_Sir Nicholas de Mi msy-Porpington died 31 st of October 1492_

‘Frank, what the fuck is this?’ Alice asked, a frown settling on her forehead as she looked back to Frank’s excited face.

‘It’s Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Party!’ Frank exclaimed over the chattering’s of ghosts and the almost-good music. Alice’s look of confusion only deepened but was interrupted before sound could leave her mouth.

‘Again, Mr Longbottom, I prefer Sir Nicholas, as you know,’ the disgruntled, yet somewhat amused voice of the Gryffindor House Ghost made them turn around to face the floating, transparent man.

‘I’m sorry, Sir Nicholas, but great party you’ve got here,’ Frank complimented, though Nick simply scoffed at the words.

‘It would be far better if I was finally allowed to join the Headless Hunt, but no. It doesn’t matter that I have half an inch of skin holding my neck on, but because I can’t volley it around, I don’t _qualify_ ,’ Nick grumbled. Alice tried her best not to raise her brows. ‘Anyway, enjoy the party, food’s over there,’ Nick waved his hand lazily and glided off.

Alice’s eyes lit up as she saw to where Nick was pointing to and saw a mountain of food placed upon a long table. She started to walk towards it, but Frank’s arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back, stopping her from taking a step further.

‘Frank!’ Alice whined. ‘I’m hungry, at least let me eat here!’

‘Gem, you don’t want to eat that food. These are ghosts and I’m pretty sure they’ve put out the same platters of food for the past hundred years. It’s all rotten,’ Frank explained, which made Alice stop struggling and turn to face him, wrinkling her nose.

‘Frank, I am missing, arguably, the best feast of the year, here, in the cold. I’m hungry and I want to see dancing skeletons, why are we here?’ Alice asked, crossing her arms over. Frank tugged them from their position and pulled her to the centre of the room.

‘We’ve not had a dance in a while, Gem. The sex is always good after we’ve had a dance,’ Frank smirked down at her, which made Alice’s frown melt away. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he started swaying them to the sound of the music, and they held small gasps of awe from a group of female ghosts bunched in the corner.

‘You’re too cute for your own good, you know that,’ Alice smiled, resting her head on Frank’s chest and felt their warmth mingling, heating them up from the cold atmosphere of the room.

‘I know. Especially as I’ve set us up a little date in the kitchens after this. You get your own personal dancing skeleton,’ Frank shot her wink and Alice couldn’t help but let out a dance.

‘Does it come with a pole?’ Alice asked suggestively, making Frank raise his own brows playfully.

‘No. But I can always find one, for you to give me a little show,’ he said, dropping a kiss onto Alice’s neck.

‘I meant for the skeleton,’ Alice giggled as Frank continued peppering kisses along her neck, making a fire light up in the pit of her stomach.

‘Personally, I find you sexier, Gem,’ Frank mumbled into her skin before raising his head to look down on her again. She truly was beautiful.

‘I would hope so,’ Alice said, colliding their lips together in a mix of fireworks and sparklers. Frank smirked into the kiss as his hand slid down to Alice’s butt.

‘Want to do the fucking before this kitchen?’ he asked.

‘What if we fuck in the kitchen?’

‘Gem, I would bloody love to. Let’s go scar the elves,’ Frank laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo.... Hello?  
> I cannot begin to express how sorry I am, but I guess uni and drinking and Fresher's week (albeit it more tame because of bloody Covid) got the better of me.   
> My workload from the start has also just been huge and I promise that I will try to update as much as possible, and today I'm giving you three chapters for your kindness and patience and for the wonderful way you all treat me. I truly am sorry for missing so many days, and I can't promise that my schedule will be regular now that I'm at uni, but I will try my absolute hardest to get posts out.  
> Thank you for everything,  
> Love, Julia xxxx


	46. Fog

Marlene shivered as she made her way up to the Astronomy Tower at one in the morning after an owl had flown in through the open dormitory window and woken her up with incessant pecking and a note. She recognised the neat cursive handwriting instantly, knowing who it belonged to, so it didn’t matter that the note lacked a signature at its end. She shoved on a pair of trainers and a blue jumper that she was pretty sure belonged to James as one point and crept out of the dorm, hoping her blonde hair wouldn’t catch the light and attract unwanted passers-by.

She was exhausted, having spent almost the entire previous night trying to finish an essay for Alchemy, which turned out to have far more Ancient Runes translating than she expected. Remus had been a sweetheart and stayed up almost the entire night with her, helping her translate, despite her insisting that he go to bed. She didn’t want to say anything, but she had noticed he had been looking rather peaky since the last full moon.

The blonde turned a corner, the dim light of her wand her only guide, and pulled the sleeves over her hands to distract from the castle’s nightly chill. It wasn’t a long walk from Gryffindor Tower to the Astronomy one in the light of day, but it certainly felt as though it took its time during the night. Shivering, she finally reached the staircase that led to a centaur’s delight.

He didn’t notice her step into the circular, open turret. He was smoking, nonchalantly, lazy puffs of steam leaving his mouth curls that disappeared into the purple sky. Marlene gazed at him for a second, slightly surprised at his stance. He was usually never this laid back, there was a perpetual tenseness to him. She shoved her wand into her pocket absent-mindedly and padded over to him.

The moonlight shadowed his face, making him appear much older than he was. Marlene couldn’t suppose it was doing much for her either, but the bags under Regulus’s eyes were intense, and matched the purple of the sky, almost looking bruised. She frowned at his rumpled appearance, something else that was odd. Like his handwriting, Regulus was neat and well kept.

However, Marlene had noticed, from afar, that this hadn’t been the case lately.

‘You came quickly,’ Regulus stated plainly, still not looking at her to acknowledge her presence. Marlene took a seat at the opposite end of the large window ledge, leaning her back against the stone.

‘You sent a very persistent owl,’ she replied. ‘Almost drilled a hole into my skull with its beak.’

‘Well, we wouldn’t want that, would we?’ Regulus said indifferently, a sarcastic drawl accompanying his words. Marlene’s forehead creased.

‘What’s up with you?’ the blonde asked as she shifted her feet onto the window ledge, so she was hugging her legs as she looked up to the almost identical replicate of Sirius Black.

Regulus sighed deeply, almost as though telling himself to get a grip as he lifted his gaze back to the girl sat in front of him.

‘Nothing, I’m just a bit tired. OWLs take it out of you, you know,’ he replied, making the corners of Marlene’s mouth lift a little. He couldn’t deny the fact that the action made his stomach flip a bit, it always did when he made her smile. But it was somewhat dampened by the information he knew about her.

‘I feel you,’ she answered, visibly more relaxed now that he was treating her with an air of warmth. ‘The first few months with the workload and everything almost killed me, it feels like, but you get used to it.’

‘Yeah, I can imagine,’ Regulus said, playing with the lace of his boot. ‘Hard to believe at the moment now. You’re lucky you’ve got a lax year.’

Marlene returned him a kind gaze, but it was one he couldn’t quite return. Truth be told, it wasn’t only her fault for how he was feeling.

His whole summer had been positively shit and returning to Hogwarts hadn’t helped him in the way he thought it would. Seeing his brother every day wasn’t easy after the way he’d left the family and became officially disowned. Regulus was subjected to whispers and plots and rumours about his brother and family daily, and he was starting to struggle with the amount of questions he would be bombarded with about the situation.

He hadn’t found comfort anywhere in the castle this year and searching for it in Marlene as he usually would have done didn’t feel right. Sirius leaving, in a way, tore his connection to Gryffindor, and by doing so, he felt as though his ties with Marlene had also severed, although other reasons joined that equation as well.

He had been forced to deal with his family far more that summer since Sirius’s unannounced disappearance, which Regulus found hard to bear. He found it difficult to look his father in the eye after he’d seen the damage done to Sirius, in every sense of the word. Regulus had been the one to clear up the drips of blood that travelled from his father’s office to the front door.

The house elves had offered to clean. Insisted, even, but Regulus didn’t want to hear of it. Sirius had always been the brave one in the family, the one who stood up for himself and what he believed in, took the punishments like none other. But to have seen his older brother, the one who always protected him, leave so broken and mutilated … it shattered Regulus.

‘Do you miss him?’ Marlene asked suddenly, making Regulus snap his gaze to the blonde. She had a look of adjacent pity on her face that he didn’t appreciate and made a fire burn inside him.

‘No,’ he snorted in response.

He hadn’t stopped playing with the lace of his boot, as far as he was aware. He hated how easily the girl in front of him could see through him.

‘You can talk to me, you know. About it. I would never tell him anything you said, I’d swear it on my life,’ Marlene said, which only made the tightness in Regulus’s chest grow.

He was angry, _so_ angry at everything that had happened over the past two years. The fact that his parents couldn’t be normal, the fact that Sirius couldn’t simply conform to pureblood rituals and rules. The anger went back to when the Sorting Hat put his only brother in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, ruining the tradition, exposing Sirius to new ways of thinking and acceptance.

He was angry that he wasn’t any better. Here he was, talking to a half-breed, almost spilling out all his problems and worries and doubts for her to use against him, for her to take back to the Mudbloods and blood traitors for them all to laugh about. Everything was wrong and unfair.

‘Don’t lie, you’ve always been closer to him than you’ve ever made it out to be. He’s always made sure that nobody else quite got to you, especially not me,’ Regulus spat maliciously, a hunger lighting up in his eyes that Marlene had never seen before.

‘What are you talking about?’ Marlene’s breath hitched at the sudden change of atmosphere in the Tower. Regulus seemed out for blood, and she had brought a knife to a wand fight.

‘I was an idiot to not see it,’ he continued as though he hadn’t heard her. ‘I don’t know why I though you would have been closer to me than him. But I just thought that we were somewhat loyal to each other. And then you went and did that.’

‘Reg, I’ve literally no clue what you’re talking about,’ Marlene butted in uncertainly.

‘I don’t get it. I don’t get anything anymore. I don’t trust anything anymore. There are fucking whispers everywhere, voices that don’t stop talking. Everyone just needs to shut up,’ he groaned.

Marlene was now more than concerned. Regulus almost seemed to have forgotten she was there, and was going off in a tangent, into a world of his own that she wasn’t a part of. He was talking in riddles she didn’t understand and the scrawny boy in front of her seemed to be growing wilder by the second.

‘Reg, talk to me, what is this about -’

‘WHY THE FUCK DID YOU SLEEP WITH HIM?’ Regulus bellowed back, Marlene skirting back at the impact, the hand she was about to comfort him with retracted back into herself.

Her eyes had widened greatly at his exclamation, Regulus stance dark and offensive. Privately, Marlene was praying that he wasn’t talking about what she was too sure he was.

‘I - I don’t know -’

‘Don’t play dumb,’ Regulus growled. ‘He told me himself. How could you let him fuck you? Why would you let him? Of all the fucking people you could’ve chosen, you had to pick him, the one that would fuck with me the most. How could you?’

Marlene couldn’t speak. She had shrank so far into herself that her voice seemed to have disappeared along with it. Regulus let out an evil smirk, one of self-satisfaction and nobility of knowing he was right. It was a smirk Marlene had never seen from him.

‘I wonder if James knows, or any of your other so-called mates,’ Regulus said spitefully. ‘Sirius was a bit of a twat for letting it slip, but he was a bit desperate to prove he’d actually slept with you, I think he would have said anything. I wonder how interested the school would actually be to find out that Sirius actually got you. That you actually let a fuckboy like that fuck you, that you’re no better than any of the other slags he shags.’

‘Please don’t tell,’ Marlene barely whispered, which only seemed to entertain Regulus further. He let out a cold laugh.

‘I take it that means no one other than us three know. How convenient,’ Regulus stood up, making Marlene look up at him.

‘Regulus,’ she pleaded, but Regulus wasn’t in the headspace to feel sympathetic.

‘I thought you were better than that, McKinnon. I thought you had more fucking restraint in you than to let him do that to you, to let him _ruin_ you like that,’ Regulus sneered.

Something snapped in the blonde from those words. She went from looking up at the youngest Black brother fearfully to standing up to match his gaze, a sense of determination filled in her blue eyes.

‘You have some fucking nerve to say that,’ she said, finding her voice back, which surprised Regulus slightly, although he wouldn’t let it show.

‘I’m just telling you the truth, something those friends of yours wouldn’t tell you,’ he replied bitterly.

‘Yeah, I fucked him, I admit that. But he in no way _ruined_ me, I agreed to it, I wanted him to fuck me,’ she glared, Regulus swallowing at her words. ‘And you know what, he was _good._ And how dare you even suggest that I’m ruined because of that. Whatever backward way you’re thinking, at least your brother doesn’t think that way, and that’s why I would fuck him twice over more than I would _ever_ fuck you.’

Marlene pressed her hand against Regulus’s chest and pushed him out the way before she took to the stairs of the Astronomy Tower and left the boy on his own in the cold as she headed back to the warmth of the Gryffindor Common Room.

She stepped through the portrait whole and let out a breath she hadn’t even known she’d been holding. She fell into a wall and allowed it to prop her up as she gathered her thoughts from what she’d just experienced.

Marlene wasn’t expecting to get jumped like that. Regulus was usually so calm and collected, he didn’t roar or yell in frustration. But today he’d cracked, and she knew it wasn’t only from what Sirius had blurted out. She began to feel a guilt seep into her bones. She yelled at him for expressing his feelings in the only way he knew how at that moment.

But she wasn’t ruined. She wasn’t, and she’d be damned before she ever allowed any boy or man to speak to her in that way. A fury started to grow inside her. A fury for Sirius. There had been no reason for him to tell Regulus what they did other than his own foolish pride and over-inflated ego. And arrogance that Marlene couldn’t stand.

‘You okay, Marls? You’ve been really quiet all morning?’ Lily’s voice floated into the blonde’s ears as she paddled the milk in her bowl of cereal with her spoon. She hadn’t slept much since she returned to bed.

‘I’m good,’ she muttered feeling the table shake as four boys sat in front of her at the table. Her eyes flitted up to see Sirius sitting across from her and she rolled her eyes dropping them back to her food.

‘I’m just saying, she was a bit too clingy to even consider banging her,’ Sirius said nonchalantly as he poured himself some pumpkin juice.

‘But you still banged her,’ Remus sounded after a pause, confusion evident in his voice.

‘Yeah, but that’s beside the point,’ Sirius chuckled, ripping apart a piece of toast.

‘Always a picture of moral integrity,’ Remus drawled.

‘And let me guess, you left her in the morning and didn’t look back,’ James groaned, having heard enough of Sirius’s girl stories to last him a lifetime preventing the involvement of girls in his daily routine. Except, of course, it wasn’t.

‘Prongs, I don’t know if it’s adorably charming or creepily unsettling how well you know my routine,’ Sirius said, placing a hand over his heart as he stared at James with a deep gaze of mock affection.

James blinked lazily back at him. ‘That should be your hint to stop fucking telling us every detail of your night life,’ James replied.

‘Please do, ‘cause there’s times that we overhear it, and I’d like to remain untouched by your despicable ways,’ Lily wrinkled her nose at Sirius who all but smirked at her.

‘You have no need to worry about that, Red. Prongs here would cut off my balls if I were to get anywhere near touching you like that,’ Sirius sent her a sleazy wink.

‘Knock it off, Padfoot,’ James muttered.

‘I’d take Potter over you any day of the week, you imbecile,’ Lily spoke with disdain, returning her eyes to the book she had open in her hand. It was only once her eyes fell on the second sentence of her text that her eyes widened in realisation of what she said.

She had even caught Marlene’s attention with it. She, Remus, and Peter were staring at Lily in shock of the sentence. James had flushed deeply, his eyes flitting between the redhead and the table in shock at the words, while Sirius was smiling so wildly, Lily could have sworn Martians could see it.

‘Well, well, well, Evans,’ Sirius snickered. ‘That’s a new development.’

Lily, like James, starting blushing profusely from the neck up. She’d admit that the boy had gotten a lot less annoying this year ever since he finally stopped asking her out every second he could. In fact, she’d go as far to say it was a bit weird not hearing his voice every day on some mission to annoy her. But she’d never think of Potter in _that_ way. That would be unimaginable.

‘No - I didn’t mean - it’s not like that - oh piss off!’ Lily stuttered slamming her book shut at the astounded faces before her. ‘I’m going to class!’

Embarrassed, she stormed out the Great Hall, items almost falling out her book bag along the way, leaving Marlene alone with the boys.

‘Fucking hell,’ Remus finally said, letting out a heavy breath. ‘Bet you didn’t see that one coming, Prongs.’

‘That meant nothing, she didn’t mean it,’ James said, trying to shake off the moment. He wouldn’t allow her to affect him anymore. He was past those days. He tried to change the topic. ‘Anyway, Marls, what’s your opinion on people sharing too much about their sex lives?’

‘I think people should keep their mouths shut, to be honest,’ Marlene said bitterly, shooting a glare Sirius’s way. He frowned at her.

‘Thank you!’ Remus rejoiced. ‘Padfoot, take note of that.’

‘Just ‘cause you don’t go spouting shite about your shags, McKinnon, doesn’t mean other people aren’t allowed to,’ Sirius taunted the blonde, making her tighten the grip on her spoon. She knew what he was doing. He’d noticed her tension and was trying to rile it up.

‘It depends on who you go spouting shite to,’ Marlene replied vindictively and dropped the spoon she was holding into the bowl of cereal with a clang. She grabbed her bag and took the same route Lily did to leave the Hall.

‘Are those girls okay today? They seem very touchy?’ Remus questioned, looking after the blonde.

‘I’ll go see what’s up with her,’ James said, beginning to rise out his seat, but Sirius stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

‘Nah, it’s fine, I’ll go. It seems to be me she was pissed at,’ Sirius sighed, grabbing another piece of toast.

‘Oh, bloody hell, what have you done this time?’ Remus groaned.

‘I’ve absolutely no idea,’ Sirius murmured under his breath as he chased after the fiery Gryffindor girl.

He saw her turn down a deserted corridor, informing him that she had Alchemy first thing. He jogged after her, making sure there was no one else around to overhear them talk.

‘Hey McKinnon!’ he yelled, seeing her stop in her tracks. ‘Wait up!’

Marlene turned around to face him, her scowl still etched deeply into her features. ‘What?’ she asked irritably.

‘Alright, alright, don’t bite my head off,’ Sirius held his hands up in surrender. ‘I just came to see you were decent.’

‘I’m glowing,’ she replied sarcastically, causing the dark haired boy to raise an eyebrow.

‘Merlin, don’t start bullshitting me, don’t do that thing girls do,’ Sirius waved his hand nonchalantly, Marlene’s glare intensifying on him.

‘Here’s a tip then; don’t piss us off,’ Marlene growled, turning on her heel to continue to her classroom.

‘Is this about me talking about that girl at breakfast? I wouldn’t think you’d care, we had our thing ages ago. I thought we were over it,’ Sirius said bluntly, oblivious to the words leaving his mouth.

It took everything Marlene had to not explode onto him.

‘You really are an arrogant piece of shit,’ she scoffed, turning back to face him, taking him by surprise. Sirius looked overwhelmingly confused at her aggressive stance towards him.

‘What the fuck have I done?’ he questioned.

Before he knew it, he was backed up against the stone wall with the tip of Marlene’s wand at his throat, his eyebrows practically disappearing into his hairline.

‘We had a deal that we wouldn’t tell anyone about what happened with us, you dickhead,’ Marlene glowered. She was the only girl that could ever properly intimidate Sirius.

‘About us sleeping together? I haven’t said shit,’ Sirius defended himself, making Marlene snort in response.

‘Aye, right,’ her Scottish accent grew. ‘Then how the fuck does your brother know that we hooked up?’

Sirius frowned deeply as Marlene backed away from him lowering her wand. She shoved it back in her pocket as she observed him, crossing her arms.

‘I swear -’

‘Who else have you told?’ she demanded, her sapphire eyes shining with distrust.

‘No one, I swear!’ Sirius defended, his forehead now creasing also. It was one of Sirius’s flaws. Although he felt sorry about what’d he said, he couldn’t quite hack how to sound and act apologetic. He had been forced to defend himself for too long for that.

‘If I even catch a whiff of the fact that anyone else knows, Black, I swear I will hex you into next year,’ the blonde threatened.

‘I swear, I said nothing, honestly. I fucked up when I told Regulus, but I was angry -’

‘Save it,’ Marlene scoffed, holding up a palm. ‘I thought I could trust you, Black, I thought we had a deal. Clearly not.’

‘You could have fucking denied it,’ Sirius started to lose his temper at the blonde. Despite how laid back the two of them were, they knew how to push each other’s buttons to bring out the rage in each of them.

‘He would have seen straight through my bullshit, Regulus is good at that,’ Marlene argued, her stance calmer than that of the towering boy in front of her.

‘Because you suddenly know Regulus so well,’ Sirius spat hatefully.

Marlene scoffed. ‘Don’t make this about that. Don’t bring your jealousy into it, just because -’

‘Because _what?_ Because I don’t have a normal relationship with him. ‘Cause I fucking _can’t._ Get off your high horse, McKinnon, and don’t for a second start spouting shit that you know my own family better than I do,’ Sirius growled.

He had spun them around, so it was now Marlene’s back against the wall, and he was leaned into her closely, close enough to smell the fresh scent of her perfume and the shampoo of her hair. Close enough to view each individual freckle that littered her nose.

Marlene took in a deep breath through her nose, attempting to gather any shred of respect she still had left for the dark haired boy in front of her.

‘There are so many things that I could say right now, but I won’t,’ she said lowly. ‘I wouldn’t do that to you. And you have some nerve coming at me about all this when I’m probably the one person who could understand your situation the best out of anyone. You’re a _cunt_.’

Marlene slipped under his arm that had been propping up is balance against the wall and Sirius watched as she left him in the corridor, hips swaying as she walked and golden hair catching the light. He sank down into the wall until he was sitting on the floor.

He rammed the back of his head into the stone in frustration. He knew, he somehow knew that what he’d accidentally spilled to Regulus that day would come back to bite him in the arse. There was no way he would be able to convince Marlene that he’d only done so to protect her, she’d never believe him of that.

He had broken her trust, something that had cemented their friendship so well over the last year. She was so easy, as a girl. She didn’t care that he hooked up with other girls, or that he openly spoke about them in front of her.

Sirius felt his hands start shaking. He knew Regulus had told her he knew just to spite him and to hurt her, for some reason. But it had to be mainly to get back at him. For everything that happened over the summer, for what he’d said about Marlene. But Sirius wasn’t okay with his little brother hurting one of his best friends. That was taking it a step too far. It fogged everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I say this every time when it's about Sirius and Marls, but this is also truly one of my favourite chapters. Please, if there's any chapter you want to voice your opinions and comments of them, let it be this one, 'cause I'm desperate for some Blackinnon gushing :) ahaha  
> Love, Julia xx


	47. A Slytherin's Fury

‘It is pouring out there,’ Dorcas murmured as she had her fist tucked under her chin, staring out of one of the windows in the Library. Remus was sat opposite her at the table they currently had several books spread across, the sound of his quill scratching against the parchment flooding the quiet shelves.

‘Yeah, and they’ve got that Quidditch match against the Slytherin’s tomorrow,’ Remus reminded, although absent-mindedly as he sucked on the end of his quill in stress at the essay he had been assigned.

‘Tell me about it, I can practically feel any room that James is in trembling from his nerves, his legs will not stop shaking in class,’ Dorcas continued, unlike Remus, completely dazed from her work. The sound of pattering rain always distracted her.

‘Yeah, the teams got quite a lot of tension,’ Remus replied, not hearing Dorcas’s words in the first placed as he drummed his fingers against the wood of the table, eyes scanning his miniscule writing. He had been far behind on his essay ever since the last full moon. He thought being in sixth year meant a lesser workload.

‘What do you mean?’ Dorcas asked, now intrigued as she turned her head to look at the sandy haired boy.

Remus may as well have not heard her again. He was murmuring inaudibly under his breath as his head flicked violently from a textbook to the parchment. Dorcas rolled her eyes at his expense.

‘Remus!’ she exclaimed suddenly, causing the werewolf to jump as he voice travelled through him and the Library. He gathered his thoughts together and looked to her with wide brown eyes.

‘SHH!’ Madam Pince appeared from behind a corner, glaring at the two students. She walked away, staring them down as Dorcas mouthed an apologetic “sorry” to her.

‘What was that for?’ Remus asked, abandoning his quill.

‘You said that the team’s been tense and you can’t just leave someone hanging after you drop a bomb like that!’ Dorcas insisted, a small smile adorning her face as she let out a little laugh and Remus’s reaction.

‘To be fair, it wasn’t that much of a bomb,’ Remus said pointedly.

‘Oh, yes it was, don’t try and wiggle out of this now,’ Dorcas smirked. ‘I want to know the drama, it’s been far too calm lately.’

‘You know gossiping isn’t a trait best admired by others,’ Remus raised his eyebrow playfully.

‘Does it look like I give a shit?’ Dorcas grinned. ‘Come on, tell me what you know, Lupin, or I’ll set the house elves on you!’

‘You couldn’t if you tried, those elves love me,’ Remus reverted cockily, making Dorcas roll her eyes at him.

‘I’ll get the girls to help me in setting up a prank on you if you don’t tell me,’ she changed her strategy, which only made Remus laugh.

‘You couldn’t if you tried, those girls also love me,’ he laughed as Dorcas huffed at his answer. She leaned back in her chair, eyeing Remus’s smirk with disdain.

‘Are you just going to torture me like this?’ Dorcas quizzed, sending him an expectant gaze, while Remus fought his grin from widening.

‘Until you give up? Maybe,’ Remus teased, which made Dorcas toss her arms up in exasperation.

‘You think you’re _so_ funny, Lupin,’ she muttered, returning to her previous pose of staring out the window.

‘Always,’ Remus said, attempting to ruffle Dorcas’s hair as she swatted him away. ‘Fine, I’ll tell you,’ he gave in, Dorcas leaning in to hear the story with excitement.

‘This better be good after all this waiting,’ she bit her lip, waiting for Remus to spill what he knew. Remus’s gaze flitted from her eyes to her lips and back.

‘I am not promising to exceed any expectations,’ Remus smiled, only wanting to frustrate Dorcas, successfully, a little more.

‘You’re not an OWL exam, Lupin, get on with it,’ Dorcas clapped her hands together, enticing the werewolf to hurry up.

‘It’s really nothing much. I’ve just noticed there seems to be some sort of tension between Marls and Sirius lately,’ Remus finally expressed his thoughts. Dorcas cocked her head to the side at his words, golden eyes narrowing in on him.

‘You’ve noticed it too? I thought I was the only one,’ Dorcas admitted.

Sirius and Marlene, who usually acted very happy-go-lucky with each other, had been very snippy with each other about things that would usually make the other laugh. It was bizarre as they were both known for being very laid back and amused, but something had gone on between them that the rest of the group didn’t know, some form of argument. Remus had been in no mood to ask about it, to avoid being growled at, and clearly Dorcas was thinking along the same lines.

‘You’re never the only one when it comes to being observant, Ace,’ Remus replied. Dorcas smiled a secret smile at the nickname he called her.

‘You think it’s weird, then? The way they’re acting?’ Dorcas questioned, nibbling on the edge of her thumbnail, nervously as she let the words spill out.

‘When does Sirius not act a little weird around girls,’ Remus sighed. ‘But there definitely had been some sort of aggression between them. They haven’t been as … relaxed, I guess, with each other as they usually are.’

‘Do you think James has noticed?’ Dorcas asked, the tentative tone she voiced not missed by Remus. They all knew James was very protective of his friends, and if he was to catch wind of the fact two of his best friends were arguing, it wouldn’t end well. As smart as he was, James Potter wasn’t the most emotionally intelligent man, his pursuits of Lily Evans proving that much.

‘No, he’s actually been a little distracted lately,’ Remus pondered thoughtfully. ‘I don’t know if it’s just over the stress of Quidditch, but something tells me that’s not the only thing going on.’

‘What do you think it is?’

‘I’ve no idea, but I bloody hope it doesn’t distract from them winning the game. I’m in no mood to deal with unbearable Slytherin’s,’ Remus huffed, picking up his quill again to get back to his essay.

It was unlike Remus to speak to someone about his friends so tactlessly to someone outside of the Marauders, to the point where he surprised himself by the time he left the Library. Dorcas was one of the easiest people he found to trust, but whether that was his brain trying to subconsciously convince him of that, he didn’t know. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was being naïve. It was like his mind shut off from all rational thought when he was around the girl with brunette hair and golden eyes.

He had dropped his bags at his feet in the Common Room and collapsed in an armchair next to James, Sirius, and Peter. The latter were playing a rather gruelling game of Gobstones, which Sirius was clearly winning, and James was pouring over a large poster with stress evidently drawn across his face, going over tactics and techniques for the next day’s Quidditch match.

‘You alright there, Prongs?’ Remus broke the silence, causing James to jump slightly at the mention of his name. He barely acknowledged Remus if it wasn’t for the slight nod he offered.

‘He might as well be you writing an essay right now, Moony, there’s no point even trying to get him to talk to you,’ Peter informed while attempting to dodge the foul smelling liquid that squirted at him.

‘The irony in that,’ Remus muttered, pulling out a book. ‘Shouldn’t you be helping the stress-ball over there?’ he gestured to Sirius.

‘Believe me, I’ve tried, he almost hexed my fingers off when I touched the parchment, let alone offered to help,’ Sirius defended with a laugh as he watched Peter yet again try to clean himself. It was like watching an untalented, disgruntled cat.

James barely ended up sleeping that night. Sirius started throwing a cushion at his face to stop him from tossing and turning, but it was no use. With the almost full moon making the room seem ten times brighter and making his heartbeat ten times harder, James completed the night with large purple bags under his eyes and his usually tanned skin undeniably pale. Contrasted with his with his robes and jet black hair, it didn’t help him look any healthier.

‘You look rough, Captain,’ Lewis said as he was the last person on the team to enter and sit down on the benches, waiting for James’s pep talk.

‘Thank you, Fortescue, remind me to never have a hangover in front of you,’ James grimaced as he attempted to stick up his poster chart of tactics up on the wall for the team, groaning as one of the corners wouldn’t stick down. James had a habit of becoming a little bit of a control freak when he was stressed.

‘Please tell me you didn’t get drunk last night, and that’s why you look like this,’ Ella Creatle, the new Keeper, wrinkled her nose as gestured up and down James’s figure with her hand, eliciting a snort out of Marlene. Ella was outspoken, and she loved it.

James didn’t so much as he glared at the young Gryffindor girl for her comment.

‘ _No,_ I didn’t get drunk last night, I just didn’t sleep very well. Now, can everyone stop scrutinising my appearance,’ James grunted as the sound of thunder rolled through the air.

‘Can we get to the inspiring part yet, Captain?’ Sirius smirked, but dropped it as Marlene shot him a glare.

‘Guys, let him talk, it’s a big day for him,’ Marlene defended the messy-haired Captain, and nodded to him to start whatever he wanted to say. 

‘Right, okay, so … right, we - um, well I …’ James pondered, stuttering as he scanned his team all looking up at him expectantly. Now that he actually had to convey a message across to the young adults waiting for a pep talk, he couldn’t think of what to say.

His eyes flicked from Marlene to Sirius in panic, hearing his blood pump through his head. Sirius gave him a slight nod and stood up.

‘It’s Slytherin out there today, people, they’re good. Just do what we normally do, and we’ll be fine, don’t let them outsmart you,’ Sirius addressed them once he stood up next to James. Hollers from the teammates were gathered in response and they stood up, heading out to be called onto the pitch from the stands.

James and Sirius were left alone in the room, James rubbing his forehead with anxiety and Sirius patted him on the shoulder in attempted comfort.

‘I don’t know what just happened,’ James sighed, running a hand through his hair in dismay. ‘I lost it there, what the fuck?’

‘You’re fine, Prongs, you’re just nervous. Just, forget about being Captain, forget everything. Focus on the game and get us to a win, alright?’ Sirius replied, squeezing James’s shoulder before reaching out to grab his broom and toss it to him.

‘Alright,’ James nodded. ‘Let’s do this.’

The crowd went wild as Gryffindor stepped out onto the pitch, brandishing their brooms in glory as they took the usual honorary lap around the pitch while James stayed on the ground to shake hands with the Slytherin Captain, who had an evil and smug smirk on his face. The Gryffindor team then assembled around James, as did the Slytherin’s for their Captain.

The handshake was firm and brutal, with more force than required. James was still trying to steady his breathing, an uncommon need to prove himself filling his bones. His eyes flashed with fear as he stepped back from the handshake, arms shaking as he gripped his broom, kicking a leg over it.

Madam Hooch spoke her final words of wisdom. Marlene stole a glance at Regulus, who was the Slytherin Seeker, only to be greeted with one of the most malicious and hungry expressions she’d ever seen on Regulus’s face, directed at her. She swallowed, feeling uneasy. James wasn’t the only one feeling uncharacteristically nervous on game day.

The whistle sounded and the two teams hit off the ground. Once the wind was blowing in James’s face, he felt his terror melt away and he felt himself dive into the groove of the game. They managed to steal the Quaffle from the opposing Chaser’s who initially caught it in less than thirty second, although scoring a goal proved to be more challenging than thought.

The Slytherin team appeared to have greatly improved over the summer, with new Chaser’s and Beater’s in place that worked like a well-oiled machine. Everyone said the Gryffindor’s played at an elite level of Quidditch, but the Slytherin’s were catching onto them. And James didn’t enjoy it one bit.

He manoeuvred his way through the fabrics of green, his eyes trained on the goalposts up ahead of him before, at the last minute, passing the Quaffle to Edward in attempts to disorientate the Keeper. It worked and Edward successfully scored, resulting in an eruption of cheers from the Gryffindor stand and a wide grin on James’s face.

He looked over to the posters made for the team, many made specifically for Sirius that a plethora of girls were holding up in squealing delight. He shook his head in amusement before his eyes fell on a certain redhead. She was grinning, holding up a sheet of encouragement for Marlene, an intricate Golden Snitch carved into the surface. James let out a small smile, directing his attention back to the game. He could feel a set of eyes on him.

Marlene had been scouting the game from a high distance, eagerly searching for the Snitch, yet with no luck as the game him the tight score of seventy - eighty to Gryffindor. The Snitch’s tactics were reminiscent of those in practice lately, enjoying a drawn out game of hide and seek before appearing from nowhere and making her chase it frantically without remorse.

‘Alright, McKinnon?’ an irritably smug voice collected in her ear and she saw a flash of green as he lined up next to her competitively.

‘You never call me that,’ she murmured to Regulus as she kept her eyes trained on the greenery and stands below, determined to not let him distract her.

‘Thought it was time for a little bit of a change. You seem to be quite fond of that,’ he replied snarkily, a bitchiness radiating from him that Marlene didn’t like. She dealt with enough bitchiness from Emmeline Vance, she didn’t need more of it piled on top of her.

‘Regulus, please. Keep it off the pitch,’ she said, eliciting a cold, cruel laugh from the Slytherin Seeker.

‘You don’t get to decide where we do and don’t keep it anymore, McKinnon,’ he said coolly. ‘Good luck trying to catch that Snitch. We’ve got at least one Black that’s fast at something.’

Marlene watched Regulus speed away in disdained disbelief to the opposite side of the pitch. The weather was getting worse, and with that, so was her visibility. She strained her eyes further, watching the game through her peripheral vision as they became blurs of red and green dashing through the air.

Sirius narrowed his eyes on the blonde as he saved James from collision with a Bludger, throwing it the way of an opposing Chaser. James had muttered a word of thanks, the Quaffle tucked under his arm protectively. Over the summer, he had built up quite a bit of muscle, so knocking the ball straight out of his hand would be no easy task.

Sirius had seen Regulus fly away from Marlene, the tension between the two Seeker’s palpable to the other player, or at least those who were paying attention. It was no secret that Sirius didn’t like the friendship between them, and the anger from it always seemed to return to the Quidditch pitch.

Slytherin scored another goal, matching up to Gryffindor’s lead and McGonagall ripped the microphone out of the Gryffindor’s hand who was doing the voiceover for his insults and slurs of language towards the players clad in green and silver.

James was in the middle of an impressive stretch towards the goalposts when he felt the atmosphere grow quiet and wilful across the stands. He looked back on himself to see a dash of green chasing after a sliver of gold, Marlene seemingly miles behind Regulus in his chase.

‘C’mon, Marls,’ James growled under his breath, taking a quick advantage of everyone’s distraction, and scoring another goal, pulling Gryffindor just barely into the lead, resuming the other player to the game with his actions.

Marlene lay flat against her broom in a tight race to catch up with Regulus and steal the Snitch out of his grasp, collecting the win for Gryffindor.

She managed to line up with him, her broom vibrating with the intensity of the pace she was forcing it to go, Regulus’s unfriendly laughter travelling over to her.

‘Struggling there a bit, McKinnon?’ he asked patronisingly, making her heart beat faster with apprehension.

‘Fuck off already,’ she strained, making Regulus smirk. She felt herself start to lose control of her broom as it started jumping from the speed, the Snitch almost within her reach.

‘Get out, half-breed,’ Regulus snarled, and he threw his body into Marlene, knocking her completely off course, sending her spinning to the ground with a complete loss of control.

Marlene cried as she tumbled down to the grassy finish of the pitch before hearing an explosion of cheers from the Slytherin stands, informing her that Regulus caught the Snitch. She didn’t look up once she landed roughly on the mud infested ground.

James felt his heart drop as he watched Regulus lap around the pitch, brandishing the Snitch in his hand as Slytherin in its whole rejoiced. His eyes searched for Marlene who still lay on the ground, face down, the rest of the Gryffindor defeated as the rain hammered down onto them.

He had lost the match. He had lost his first match as Captain and it stung. A deep seated disappointment filled him, and he wanted out of the public eye as quickly as possible. He exchanged an unenthusiastic handshake with the Slytherin Captain yet again as a sign of honour and the disappeared under the Gryffindor stand, back where he had started the morning. He couldn’t quite stomach the sight of Marlene at that moment, Madam Pomfrey fussing over her.

‘Lads, I’m so sorry,’ James scratched the back of his neck as the rest of the team, bar Marlene, entered after him, disappointment clear on their faces.

‘It weren’t your fault mate,’ Edward brushed away the bespectacled apology, starting to wring out his drenched robes.

‘You’re plans and training were all stellar, James, we just weren’t expected the Slytherin’s to be quite so coordinated,’ Cillian, the Keeper, backed Edward up with his point.

‘You lot go hit the showers, I’ll be there soon,’ James waved them off, leaving him alone in the prep room. Sirius had offered to stay, but James had shaken his head. He needed to talk to Marlene alone.

The blonde clamoured in, looking exhausted and deluged. She clearly hadn’t been expecting anyone to wait for her as she looked up, surprised to see James standing there, unchanged from the pitch and thoroughly frustrated.

‘James. I’m so fucking sorry,’ she whispered to him, pushing some wet strands of hair out of her face.

‘What happened out there, Marls?’ James breathed, taking a few steps closer to her, but she cowered away with embarrassment. ‘You’ve caught the Snitch all of last season, what happened?’

‘I lost control, I couldn’t keep up,’ she murmured, dropping down to sit on one of the wooden benches, head in her hands.

James sympathy got the better of him and he sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around Marlene’s shoulders, and pulling her into a hug, which she sank into.

‘Do you think maybe you need a better broom?’ James asked, but he knew it was pointless. Both he and Marlene had the Nimbus 1500, the best broom on the market.

Marlene shook her head profusely.

‘No, it’s not that,’ she sighed. ‘I’m so sorry, James, I don’t know what happened out there. I just lost it. I lost focus, I lost control, and I lost you your first game as Captain. I’m the worst Seeker in the world, I completely understand if you want to replace me.’

‘Don’t chat shite,’ James argued, pulling his sister even closer.

Initially, he knew he had been angry at her. He’d wanted to scream at her, blame her for not winning for them. But Marlene seemed even more cut up about it than him. She was sniffling into his wet robes, knowing full well that she should be comforting James. There was so much swimming through her head, she may as well have been back on the marshy pitch.

‘Come on, let’s get you out of these robes. Get a shower and then we’ll head to the kitchens and get a hot chocolate. We can wallow together,’ James managed to grimaced as Marlene rubbed her eyes. She simply nodded and snuggled into James more before standing up and heading for the girls changing rooms, leaving James to his thoughts.

In a dark corner of the dungeon corridors, Regulus was held up against the stone wall, but he was smirking through the threatening ordeal.

‘I’ve told you before, Reg, back off her,’ Sirius snarled to Regulus who rolled his eyes in response.

‘I didn’t do anything you idiot, calm down,’ Regulus chuckled, but Sirius didn’t back away, his eyes dark with distaste.

‘Leave her alone. You have no right to go after her just ‘cause she fucked me instead of you,’ Sirius growled, making Regulus’s eyes darken. He had hit a nerve.

‘So she told you,’ Regulus said lowly. Sirius nodded.

‘And if you _ever_ think of threatening her again with that, you’ll be getting a lot worse than just me coming for you,’ Sirius grunted, roughly dropping Regulus’s collar that he was holding him up against the wall with.

‘Yeah right, you said that last time and we’re back where we were before. You master in empty threats, Sirius,’ Regulus snorted. As much as Sirius would talk, Regulus knew his brother would never actually hurt him. That made Sirius too much like their father.

‘I swear to Merlin, Reg, you will never see the light of day again if you even _think_ of using that against her,’ Sirius spat, stepping back from his younger brother. ‘Take that as your final warning. ‘Cause I won’t be so generous next time.’

Regulus clenched his jaw as Sirius began to walk away, arms hanging limply by his body.

‘It’d be interesting to find out if Potter knows,’ Regulus said, more playfully than he intended, making Sirius stop in his tracks. ‘Wonder how he would feel about you fucking his sister.’

Sirius’s whole back visibly tensed at the threat, and he looked slyly over his shoulder.

‘I don’t like your friendship with McKinnon, I’ve made that clear. No matter what she’s done with me, you still like her and don’t want to lose her. You tell James, it’s not me you’ll have to worry about.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awh, don't we just love jealous, protective Sirius? :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	48. Streetcar Named Desire

‘Where were you last night?’ Sirius asked James and the bespectacled young man arrived late for breakfast, weariness evident on his face. He frowned at the question, no incentive to answer it.

‘Nowhere,’ James replied simply. ‘You weren’t there when I left anyway,’ he added, piling some scrambled eggs and sausages onto his plate.

‘Yeah, but that’s known for me. Where did you creep off to, ‘cause you weren’t back by the time I was,’ Sirius smirked, peaking the interest of Remus and Peter.

‘I just went for a walk. Took longer than I thought,’ James yawned innocently, but Sirius’s eyes narrowed.

He was right to be suspicious, for James was lying. He had been for a while. Even this morning, he could feel a certain pair of eyes on him, trying to subtly transmit messages to him across the Hall. He couldn’t say he was proud of it, but he also couldn’t help himself.

She really was quite marvellous. She had managed to slip little pieces of parchment into the pockets of his robes about where they’d next meet up without even him noticing let alone anyone else. She was like a whisper in the wind, undisputedly clever and slick like a fox. But that didn’t mean James was proud of what he was doing, but he also didn’t know how to stop.

Remus would have called it an overcorrection since he stopped going after Lily Evans. People had made less of a deal of him “moving on” from her than he’d expected. Everyone seemed to have gone on about their own lives and he had been left in the cold. So he dealt with it how he knew. Sirius would hate him for it.

He wasn’t even too sure how it all started. She had never brought attention to herself and they’d been civil when they’d bumped into each other for the first time, surprisingly. It grew from there, and he knew he was getting sloppy, but James wasn’t good at hiding things from people. He had many who could vouch for that.

But this he’d managed to so far. And if he was completely honest, he wasn’t sure how much he liked that fact.

‘You’re late,’ she whispered as he’d entered the room, a cigarette dangling between her fingers less than an inch from her mouth. James took in a breath.

She looked beautiful, the moonlight lighting up the side of her face that James could see, the wind from the crack in the window feathering her hair back from her face, smoke leaving. Strong, dark, yet arched brows framed her face in the most feminine way and her lips were pouting, showing off their redness. Her dark, glinting eyes had yet to set on James.

‘Congratulations,’ James contained the bitterness in his tone, making her turn to face him entirely, offering him her full attention.

‘On what?’ she enunciated.

‘On the win,’ James clarified. It had been a few days since the Quidditch match, and James was still hurting from his first loss as Quidditch Captain.

She simply rolled her eyes and turned her face to the window again.

‘You know I couldn’t care less about that shit,’ she mumbled, taking another drag of the cigarette, and blowing perfect ovals with the smoke that left her mouth. ‘You’re just pissed off that you didn’t win.’

‘Damn right, I’m pissed off,’ James grumbled, now making his way over to her confidently and taking a seat opposite her. They were in a classroom for once. She liked to switch up their location. She claimed it kept anyone from catching onto them. She was as keen to keep hidden as James.

‘I can help with the frustration,’ a shadow of a smirk graced her features, making some of the blood leave James’s brain. His eyes darkened.

They had first met in detention that year. James had pulled a stupid prank in Charms, with which Flitwick was not impressed. Rather amateurly, James had made it fairly obvious that he was attempting to charm Flitwick’s electrified hair into a series of snakes to replicate him into Medusa. The Charms professor hadn’t been impressed.

But it made her laugh.

He’d found out in that detention that she despised Quidditch, as they’d somehow set aside their differences and took advantage of a snoring Slughorn to talk. The only reason she went to spectate the games was so she could get first pick of the booze during a win.

She had amused them by picking apart Slughorn, which James couldn’t help but chuckle at. He hadn’t expected her to be quite so chatty with him. As shallow as it was, James was still a teenage boy, and so the first thing he couldn’t help but notice about her was how stunningly pretty she was. It was what he always thought when he thought of her.

They weren’t sure how the rest happened. Attraction. Pheromones. Sexual curiosity. Maybe it was the taboo of it, the thrill of passing secretive messages between each other, the sensation she’d cause him when she’d quickly whisper into his ear in passing or he’d fine a set of her slim, lace underwear, out of nowhere, in his robe pocket.

‘I’d be disappointed otherwise,’ James smirked in response, which made her laugh lightly. Her rest his head back against the wall and watched her.

‘You should have won,’ she stated matter-of-factly, her voice sturdier than it had been previously. ‘Your Seeker was done dirty in the last few minutes.’

‘You were watching someone other than me?’ James teased slightly, making her whack him with her foot, clad in a bulky combat boot.

‘You’re no better than Slytherin’s if you talk like that,’ she scolded him, pulling the hood of her jumper snug around her head.

‘So no better than you, then?’

‘I’m an exception to the curse,’ she replied, taking another drag, although James didn’t miss the glint of hilarity that glazed her eyes.

‘Ah, yes,’ James sight dreamily, lacing his hands behind his head. ‘The great Aoibh Imptrop, no Slytherin alike.’

‘You may laugh,’ she retorted lowly, ‘but what other Slytherin would fuck you?’

‘I reckon I could find a few,’ James winked. He shuffled closer to her, moving her legs apart until her was between them, one leg on either side of him.

‘I’d like to see you try,’ Aoibh taunted, tossing her cigarette, over the window, letting it dive to a dismal fate.

‘You’d get too jealous, love,’ James grinned cockily, cupping Aoibh’s jaw in both his calloused hand and colliding their lips together.

He swiftly pulled her onto his lap, so she was straddling him, their kiss intensifying with each touch of their bodies. James moved his hands to her waist, moving them under her hoodie to touch the bare, smooth skin underneath. She shivered at his cold hands, sighing into the kiss as he gripped his fingers into her supple skin.

She pulled him in closer, looping her arms around his neck as she sucked on his bottom lip slightly, making him moan. James moved his hands further up her back, lifting the jumper up with him, warming his hands on the heat radiating from her back. He reached the strap of her bra and tugged on it, making her smile into the kiss.

He pushed her hoodie up further and tugged it over her head, so she sat there on him, vast amounts of skin exposed. They’re lips had tugged apart for a second from the action, allowing him to admire her, drinking her in, throwing the jumper to the floor.

She wasn’t a girl to blush at his blatant staring or attempt to cover herself up. She pulled his face back to her, covering his lips with lustful movements as their tongues danced in a seductive pas de deux. She entwined her finger in his hair, tugging on the messy strands so as to elicit a moan from the depth of his throat, the noise satisfying her.

James attacked her with his hands again, stretching them across the exposed skin before fumbling to unclasp her bra smoothly. She shrugged it off and unlatched her mouth from his to pull of the jumper he was wearing, a sense of desperation coming across with her scrambling hands.

‘I saw you staring at her again,’ Aoibh gasped as James, now bare backed, covered one of her breasts with his palm and the other with his mouth, sucking and playing with them, flicking the hardened nipple of the one in his hand.

‘Who?’ he mumbled into her skin as he latched on her nipple with his teeth, tugging on it which made her arch her back into it, breathing out a moan for him.

‘Evans, who else do you think?’ Aoibh hissed as she rolled her hips into James, feeling him harden underneath her through his jeans. She moved her hands to the button of them. ‘At the Quidditch match.’

‘I could have been staring at anyone,’ James groaned as leaned sat back, allowing himself to watch the witch grind into him, making all sense and blood rush from his head, into his evermore hardening length.

‘I know you. You’re always staring at her, always thinking about her,’ Aoibh said breathily, pushing herself onto her knees so she could pull James’s jeans off, leaving him in his boxers. He glared as her as she sat back down on him, looking into his eyes knowingly. ‘Tell me I’m wrong,’ she challenged.

James growled and tore the shorts that Aoibh was wearing off her long legs, leaving her naked with nothing to shield her but her long sheet of dark hair. He bucked his hips up into her, making her moan at the impact, watching as her face crumbled into one of pleasure before attaching his lips to her neck.

She moved against him roughly as he sucked on her neck just below her jaw, her sweet spot that made her want him desperately. She moaned out his name as James stood up with her latched around his waist and pushed her into the wall, grabbing handfuls of her butt as she forced his lips back onto hers aggressively, pushing herself into him, unable to feel enough of him.

James pushed himself out of his boxers, freeing his erection. He moved his hand from under Aoibh’s butt to cup her sex, feeling the heat and arousal emit from it, making him bite back a moan. He slowly slipped one finger between her folds, feeling her wetness coat him as she cried out from the sensation.

She flung her head back like a work of art as James slipped one finger inside her and moved it against her walls, feeling the tightness of her contract in on him. She moved her hips in the beat of the thrusts into her as he added a second finger. Her eyelids fluttered over from the feeling and James felt himself grow even harder from the sight of her.

‘James,’ she moaned heavily as he moved his arm faster, moving in and out of her more ferociously, feeling the need to prove something to himself, to the world as he watched her unravel in his hands.

She bent over into him, feeling her bite his shoulder from the emotions he was sending through her body as she tried to stay as quiet as possible so no one could overhear them if they were to pass. In reality, they should have cast a silencing charm, but they always forgot. There was a thrill that accompanied the possibility of allowing themselves to get caught.

‘James, I’m going to come,’ she moaned into his ear, which only enhanced his performance, as he listened and felt her fall apart in his arms, giving him a deep sense of satisfaction. She panted into his neck as he removed his hand from her, but he wasn’t planning on giving her a break.

He lined her up with himself and pushed into her, deeply and felt his arousal grow at the noise she yelped out at his action. He thrust in and out of her roughly, the pressure of her walls contracting in on him making him groan wildly, making his mind black out.

‘Fuck,’ he said hoarsely, as he suspended her against the wall to allow him to move more swiftly, adding sweet nothings throughout his curses. That was something he couldn’t help. He wanted every girl to feel good while with him, but he’d never meant the phrases that slipped past his lips. Not even with Aoibh.

‘Harder,’ Aoibh demanded as he was growing closer to his high. He was losing all sense of control from her words and moans.

‘You’re beautiful,’ he muttered to her, as their chests were pressed against each other in the final moments of their sexual intimacy.

He felt himself reach his high and his thrust became weaker, sloppier as he spilled into her, feeling the loss of her pressure as he slipped out of her and dropped her to the ground. With his arms still around her, he dropped his head on the wall behind her, panting shallowly.

‘You alright there, Prongs?’ Remus asked, one eyebrow raised as he snapped James out of his trance. James shook his head with shock, leaning off of the table as the bustling noise of breakfast in the Great Hall sent him crashing to reality.

‘What? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I’m good,’ he uttered, trying to shift subtly in his seat, so as to not expose the obvious altercation ne know found himself in under the table.

‘You were miles away!’ Peter laughed. ‘Classes haven’t even started yet and you’re already daydreaming!’

‘Just one of those days, I guess,’ James muttered in response, running a hand through his hair nervously, making even more of a mess of it.

He raised his eyes to meet the with a dark pair he knew very well. She smirked at him, subtly, from across the Hall as she paddled her spoon through her cereal. James dropped his gaze back down. That smirk haunted him.

‘Prongs, you coming? What’s up with you today, you’re out of it,’ Sirius pestered him. James looked up to see his three friends standing up, ready to go to class with their bags slung over their shoulders.

‘Nothing, I’m coming,’ James assured them, flinging his own bag over his shoulder, grabbing an apple for a snack later one, keeping his gaze far from the Slytherin table. He didn’t want to lock eyes with Aoibh again.

It wasn’t that he was embarrassed of her. Or maybe he was. What he did know was that he was confused beyond belief, about everything. He was struggling to make sense of what was centred around him, feeling like he’d lost a version of himself that summer that he didn’t know how to get back.

He was still himself, but with a darker edge. Never in his life did he think he’d have an affair with a Slytherin. As much as his parents wanted him to be happy, he didn’t know how they’d react to this. What he did know was his overwhelming desire to keep it a secret, thankfully, something that he and Aoibh shared.

They didn’t like many of the same things, hardly any in fact. But she was dangerous and sexy and mysterious. It was something he maybe needed after liking someone as sweet and innocent as Lily Evans for so long.

‘She’s still milking that bloody prank I pulled on her!’ Alice suddenly exclaimed in James’s ear as she caught up with the boys in class, sitting down at the desk next to James and Sirius in History of Magic. Professor Binns hadn’t shown up yet, luckily for the class.

‘Who is?’ Sirius jumped in with a grin, trying to follow Alice’s dismayed and furious eyeline.

‘Bloody Vance!’ Alice exclaimed, her forehead creasing as she glared at the dark haired Gryffindor from across the room, who was currently surrounded by two boys from Hufflepuff and one from Ravenclaw. She had taken off her robes and was gesturing wildly to her arms.

‘To be fair, you did scar her a bit,’ Lily chuckled as she passed them, sitting at the desk behind Alice and Dorcas.

‘She’s acting like she got attacked by a bloody werewolf!’ Alice scolded, crossing her arms in annoyance.

Remus’s ears pricked up slightly.

‘She just likes the attention from it, leave her be,’ Dorcas smiled graciously, dumping her textbook on the desk with a bang.

‘It’s so fucking melodramatic,’ Alice complained. ‘The bloody cutlery didn’t even touch her!’

‘We _are_ liking that word today,’ Dorcas laughed.

‘Honestly, you’d think she didn’t have a boyfriend,’ Sirius observed with a chuckle, sucking on the end of his quill as the group watched the three boys be entranced by Emmeline’s theatrical narration.

‘Since when have you been an advocate for monogamy?’ Remus scoffed, raising an eyebrow.

‘Oh, believe me, I’m not!’ Sirius defended. ‘But Prewett’s a decent bloke, she shouldn’t be tossing him about like that.’

Alice snorted, ‘That’s rich coming from you, Black.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean!’ Sirius declared in mock concern.

‘Hestia Bones,’ Lily stated coolly, flicking over a page in the textbook, clearly indifferent to the interactions that were currently going on between her classmates.

‘What about her?’ Peter asked, voicing Sirius’s thoughts.

‘Lovely girl, and yet you mucked about with her for all of last month and then left her out to dry! The poor girl didn’t know which way was up or down by the end of it!’ Alice called him out for his actions. Sirius simply rolled his eyes and waved a hand in dismissal at the accusation.

‘ _Please,_ she should have known what she was in for when she was getting into cahoots with me, you girls are just too bloody sensitive,’ Sirius retracted, turning back around to face the front of the class.

‘ _Never,_ use the word “cahoots” again,’ Remus shook his head with dismay at his dog-like friend as Professor Binns entered the class.

James was still deep in thought as the class proceeded. He couldn’t seem to focus after last night, but he had never behaved this way after one of his and Aoibh’s meetings before. He could normally easily brush them off as though nothing had happened. But last night had stuck with him.

For the first time, his friends had actually acknowledged that he wasn’t in the dorm at night. With their intrusion into that part of his life, his fling with Aoibh suddenly felt far more real. The Marauders didn’t keep secrets from each other. Especially not secrets of which the existence they were aware of.

‘Professor Binns, apologies for the intrusion, I need to speak to one of your students,’ Professor McGonagall suddenly appeared in the classroom doorway, awakening the students from the droning lullaby that was the History of Magic class.

Binns sighed. ‘The boys are over there, Minerva. Take your pick,’ Binns gestured to the Marauders in the class, who responded to his offering with frowns. They hadn’t set any prank or misbehaved as of late.

‘No, Professor, I actually need to speak to Miss Evans,’ McGonagall stated, causing Lily to whip her head up in surprise at hearing her name.

‘Very well,’ Binns said, also sounding surprised at the need to remove Lily Evans from a classroom. ‘Make sure you catch up on any material you miss, Miss Evans.’

Confused, Lily stood up, abandoning her quill and notes of the desk, and followed McGonagall out of the classroom and along a few long corridors. The pursed-lipped Professor didn’t look back at her, and Lily felt too nervous to ask any questions.

They turned into a classroom, where Professor Slughorn was waiting behind a desk, a grim look on his face, but he looked relieved when McGonagall strutted in.

Lily made her way up to the desk with McGonagall, at which point, the two Professors were looking at her gravely. Lily’s mind was swimming with possibilities of why she was here, missing class, with two very sombre teachers.

‘Is everything alright?’ she asked colloquially, hoping to lighten her mood, but her voice was far too timid for that.

‘No, Miss Evans, unfortunately not, my dear girl,’ Slughorn said, wiping his brow with a handkerchief he kept tucked up his sleeve.

‘Miss Evans, a student was cursed with this, today. Do not touch it,’ McGonagall explained

With willowy fingers, the professor pushed a sizable leather wallet with a majestic gold ring on top of it towards Lily. The redhead frowned as she observed it, the ring showing no significance of it being cursed.

‘What has this got to do with me?’ she asked worriedly.

‘We were wondering if you knew anything about it,’ McGonagall sighed. ‘We believe it belongs to Severus Snape.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to address the elephant in the room, welcome to the first smut of the story. I did try to make it more artistic and, I guess, more poetical than smut usually is, because I don't really want this story to be truly known for its smut, but of course it's going to be in here. Let me know what you thought of it though, because I'm intrigued to know if I'm actually any good at it :)  
> Love, Julia xx


	49. Platforms

‘Why didn’t she want to come again?’ Alice asked as she wrapped her coat tighter around herself to keep out the biting November winds of Hogsmeade. The main street was packed with bustling students, and they were headed for the warmth of Honeydukes before setting eyes on a Butterbeer.

‘Said she had stuff to do in the castle, but she wouldn’t tell me what,’ Marlene replied as she pushed open the bright green door that granted them access into the magical sweetshop, where, already in the corner, a student could be seen floating a few feet of the ground from consuming a Fizzing Whizbee.

‘She’s been a bit off ever since McGonagall had that talk to her,’ Dorcas observed, as she picked up a sugar quill and placed it into a little wicker basket that Honeydukes offered to gather confectionary. ‘Do either of you know what that was about?’

Dorcas directed the question at both of them, but they all knew it was mainly directed at Marlene. If anyone was to know what was going on with Lily Evans, it would be Marlene.

‘I’ve not got a clue,’ she replied, popping a piece of Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum in her mouth. ‘I’ve tried to ask her, but she just sort of clams up a bit. And I don’t particularly want to push it in case it’s about family stuff, after the year she’s had.’

Dorcas and Alice hummed in agreement as they continued pottering around the shop, looking to see if any new stock had been added since they last came to the shop. Dorcas almost ran over a goblin at one point, who was hiding just around the corner of one of the shelves. He was not impressed.

‘Hey, you,’ hands covered Alice’s eyes, making her squeal, while Dorcas and Marlene’s faces broke out into grins.

‘I’ve told you to stop doing that!’ Alice giggled as she smacked Frank’s hands away but stared up at him lovingly as he grinned down to her.

‘Mind if I steal her away for a bit, ladies, I must admit I’ve kind of been neglecting her for parchment and quill lately,’ Frank said cheekily, sending a wink Alice’s way.

‘Be our guest, take her, she’ll only end up complaining about you to us anyway. She might as well do it to you,’ Dorcas teased, Alice’s whipping up a middle finger in her direction at the comment.

‘Wow, you’ve been complaining about me!’ Frank exclaimed as sarcasm tickled his tone delightfully.

‘Right, let’s get out of here before the fists come out,’ Alice said, turning Frank around and starting to push him out of the shop, sending her two friends a comical glare as she left. ‘Strictly speaking; mine.’

Dorcas and Marlene waved the couple off patronisingly, wide grins on their face as the bell rang to announce Frank and Alice’s departure.

‘Disgustingly cute, aren’t they?’

‘Sickeningly adorable. Makes me want to boke.’

‘Butterbeer?’

‘Butterbeer.’

Confirming their plans, the two girls paid for their sweets (Dorcas buying an extra slab of Honeydukes chocolate than she normally did) and they headed off for the Three Broomsticks. Dorcas almost suggested that they head to the Quill Tavern, but stopped herself from blurting it out, remembering that Remus told her not to mention the place to anyone.

Quickly hurrying off the bitter cold of the street, Marlene and Dorcas ran to the pub, knocking shoulders with several students along the way, shouting apologies over their own shoulders in response.

‘Well that’s unsightly,’ Dorcas muttered with a wrinkled nose as she unwound her pale blue scarf from around her neck once the door of the pub closed behind them.

Marlene followed Dorcas’s eyeline to be met with the view of Sirius Black with the legs of a blonde Hufflepuff in the year below draped over him. Her arms were latched around his neck and she was shaking as he whispered words of a trembling nature into her ear. The Hufflepuff’s platform, heeled boots were knocking against the leg table.

Marlene swallowed at the sight but couldn’t quite tear the shifty gaze she offered the couple away. Sirius was grinning into the blonde’s hair and laughing which made her feel a slight pit in her stomach, one she couldn’t quite place. She hated the feeling of it, determined to make it disappear.

‘I swear, that boy’s standards get lower by the day,’ Dorcas’s voice floated her back into reality as they hooked their cloaks over their arms, scanning the bar in attempts to find a table.

‘You don’t have to tell me,’ Marlene murmured in response, hoping to move off the topic as quickly as possible. She was in no mood to discuss the widely rumoured antics of Sirius Black.

‘You know, she kind of looks like she’s trying to be a really trashy version of you,’ Dorcus mused as she tilted her head, blatantly staring at the now snogging couple. ‘She can try all she wants, she could never live up to the looks of a quarter Veela.’

‘Oh, shush, she does not look like me,’ Marlene rolled her eyes, but Dorcas’s comment caused her a slight smirk of satisfaction.

‘Look, I think that’s a table just freed up over there,’ Dorcas pointed across the bar where a group of goblins (including the one that Dorcas had almost ran over in Honeydukes) had just left a booth.

They started making their way across the pub, and Marlene took another glance at the booth where Sirius was sat to lock eyes with James, who was looking rather squashed along with Remus as they were crammed in with two of the Hufflepuff’s friends. They seemed to be trying to get rather friendly with the two boys, both looking like clones of the original Hufflepuff, each also wearing a pair of the platformed boots.

James looked almightily relieved to have seen her, looking rather uncomfortable at the ambush of badgers and nudged Remus’s arm to shuffle out of the booth to join Marlene and Dorcas who had been chuckling as they watched whole ordeal, the Hufflepuff girls left with frowns.

‘Not enjoying the groupies?’ Dorcas asked cheekily, making James and Remus shoot glares at her.

‘Don’t even start, Meadowes, that was beginning to feel like the start of a human centipede,’ James shuddered, only increasing the girls mocking laughter.

‘They’re like fucking leeches, why does Padfoot like them?’ Remus exasperated, looking over his shoulder to now see Sirius enjoying the attention of all three girls, laughing, and smirking with them.

‘He’s honestly becoming the definition of the worst type of guy,’ Dorcas shook her head in dismay, as she peered over the booths.

‘And what kind of guy is that?’ James asked, a sense of genuine curiosity gracing his face that made Dorcas smile.

‘The type of guy that knows he’s attractive and feeds off it, making him an arrogant piece of shit,’ Dorcas stated bluntly, her words make Marlene snort. ‘And besides that, he’s just an asshole who goes for dumb girls because they make him seem smarter. Honestly, they’re a disgrace to women, fawning over a guy like that, one who’s just going to toss them away as soon as he gets bored.’

‘Hear, hear,’ Marlene enhanced, raising an imaginary glass to the statement.

‘It’s gotten worse this year, him with the girls,’ James admitted. ‘They seem to be constantly surrounding us now, it’s like being in a maze of long hair!’

‘Any tips on how to scare them off?’ Remus chuckled, as he passed his tankard of Butterbeer he’d brought with him from the previous booth for Dorcas to have a sip, which she gladly took. James and Marlene exchanged smirks.

‘Get rid of Sirius,’ Dorcas laughed, her eyes laced with amusement as she offered the antidote, which only made the two boys shake their heads in despair.

‘Actually, Marls, have you and Pads made up yet? You haven’t been talking for a while now,’ Dorcas questioned, making Marlene look up with surprise from the imaginary shapes she’d been drawing on the table. She had, in all honesty, zoned out of the conversation.

‘What?’ she asked, also piquing James’s interest in the conversation, chocolate eyes narrowing slightly.

Dorcas nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s true. I don’t think you two have ever gone this long without speaking since first year, what happened?’ she confirmed, doe eyes curious as to an explanation for the prolonged silences between the two friends.

‘He was just a bit of dickhead,’ Marlene replied cryptically. ‘I’m just not quite ready to forgive him.’

‘For what, though?’ James now asked, Marlene sighing at the question, giving James a look that he couldn’t quite decipher.

‘It was just Black being Black, doing and saying everything before thinking,’ she responded, before shooting a suggestive look Dorcas’s way. ‘He’s no gent like a Remus Lupin, that’s for sure.’

Both Dorcas and Remus began blushing deep shades of rouge, making both James and Marlene chuckle at their actions as the two blushers kept their eyeline down, unwilling to look at one another or anything else.

Smirking, Marlene shuffled her way out of the booth, taking a standing position next to her brother.

‘Butterbeer for you then, Cas?’ the blonde asked. Dorcas shook her head bashfully, still avoiding eye contact, although, she couldn’t help but sneak a quick glance at Remus, who was now staring at the ceiling as though it was the most interesting design in the whole world.

‘I’ll come help you out, Marls,’ James stated, reading the blondes mind, and the two of them headed to the bar to buy a round of Butterbeers for the table, very tempted to get one for Remus and Dorcas to share, plonking two straws in the pint.

Left alone at the table, Dorcas began to fiddle with her thumbs as an awkward silence fell over herself and Remus, neither knowing quite what to say to the other. They were both quite awkward in these types of situations, and with the bomb that Marlene dropped on them, Dorcas wasn’t quite sure they were ever going to dig themselves out of the grave.

‘So,’ Dorcas started, trying to simultaneously calm down the redness on her neck and rid the awkward silence. ‘What else has Sirius been doing in his quest for girls? Anything stupid?’

Remus chuckled, surging the courage to glance back up at her. ‘Countless of things. I’m pretty sure last night he rocked back into the dorm at three in the morning. He whacked his leg off my bed post and acted as though he’d been shot,’ the werewolf explained, scratching the back of his neck as he spoke.

Dorcas frowned. ‘Shot?’ she asked, confused. ‘What does that mean?’

‘Sorry, Muggle books. Muggles use these devices called guns that they use to do something called “shooting.” It’s quite horrible actually, it can cause a lot of damage or even kill you,’ Remus explained, watching as Dorcas’s eyes grew at his explanation.

‘But that’s horrible, why would they ever want to invent such a thing?’ Dorcas questioned, the awkward encounter they’d had a few moments ago now forgotten.

‘Same reason as why wizards invented spells to hurt each other,’ Remus replied, leaning back into his seat, and crossing his legs. ‘Wands are really just like Muggle guns, apart from the fact they can also do good. But everyone wants to be able to protect themselves, I guess, just with different methods.’

‘I suppose you’re right,’ Dorcas sighed. ‘It’s kind of sad, though. The fact that people feel the need to protect themselves with objects and spells that cause harm to others.’

‘Human nature’s scary. Why would someone want to cause someone else harm in the first place, to make them feel like they have to resort to dangerous methods? It’s a cycle, built and powered by fear,’ Remus responded, his face drowned in a faraway look that intrigued Dorcas.

‘Would you ever?’ she asked as Remus took a sip of Butterbeer.

‘Ever what?’

‘Use spells to hurt people? Intentionally?’ Dorcas expanded. Remus caramel eyes flicked suddenly to her, as though he was staring into her mind, her soul.

‘I don’t know,’ he replied softly, truthfully. ‘I’ve never been put in that situation. Maybe if something or someone I loved was being attacked, then … I don’t know.’

‘Do you think that’s a lot of the reason why people kill? For love?’ Dorcas pressed further, interested to hear Remus’s take.

‘I think it’s one of the driving forces, perhaps,’ Remus pondered thoughtfully. ‘But the idea that love is the only reason, no, it’s just a powerful one. Love is really powerful, people will do anything for it, it’s arguably the strongest thing out there. But those who kill for sport, there’s no love there, but other incredible powerfully emotions. It’s just not fair that other’s become the victims of their consequence.’

‘What are you two talking about? This feels very solemn for a bar,’ James’s playful voice broke them out of their conversation as he and Marlene set town four fresh tankards of Butterbeer on the table.

‘Guns,’ Dorcas interjected before Remus could. ‘We were talking about guns.’

‘If this is another one of those Muggle things, I don’t wish to know. Alice had that Muggle Studies test yesterday and would not stop talking about it! I don’t think I could understand any more about Muggle electricity if I tried,’ Marlene laughed, taking a large gulp of the hot, sweet drink in front of her.

Dorcas and Remus exchanged amused glances as Marlene and James delved into a meaningless conversation, which Remus soon joined in full laughter. Dorcas observed Remus for a moment, smiling at his interaction with the others.

He was more captivating than any person Dorcas had ever met. His eyes seemed to be hundreds of years older than his age of sixteen, he seemed to hold secrets and love and pain and sorrow throughout the scars that laced his body. He was an old soul, Dorcas was sure of that. But there was something more behind that straight-toothed smile, something that Dorcas couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Lily had stayed behind in the castle, her mind struggling to focus on anything other than one thing in particular that plagued her mind. She was sat in the empty Gryffindor Common Room, awaiting the return of an owl that she’d sent not too long ago. The WWN was playing in the background, allowing for some noise in the otherwise silent room.

She loved the Gryffindor Common Room in all its cosiness and atmosphere. It was always the guaranteed place in the castle where she felt safe and warm. She was sat in one of the squishy armchairs, chewing on the hangnail of her thumb.

A tapping brough her out of her thoughts and she saw Marlene’s owl, who she’d used to send the message while the blonde was away at Hogsmeade, tapping on the window. Enduring the cold breeze that occurred as she opened the window to let the snowy owl in, Lily squinted as she unwrapped the tightly folded note from the owls leg and opened it. 

_Meet me on the seventh floor, next to the tapestry of the dancing trolls x_

Lily rolled her eyes at the kiss on the end of the roll of parchment before shoving the note into her pocket and climbing out of the portrait hole. Ignoring for the obnoxious singing of the Fat Lady, Lily made her way for the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy.

There she saw a face she often dreaded seeing these days, a boy with shoulder length, greasy black hair, and hunched shoulders. He was scuffing his shoe on the ground as Lily drew closer, and once he heard her footsteps, his head whipped up, eyes considerably brightening up.

‘Lily, I’m so glad you owled,’ he said happily, drawing closer to her as Lily halted her steps, crossing her arms over one another. ‘I thought you’d never -’

Lily held her hand up to cut him off. ‘I’m not interested in any of yours dozens of apologies, Severus, nor have I forgiven you and that’s not why I’m here,’ she said curtly, catching the Slytherin boy by surprise.

‘Oh. I thought -’ he stuttered, but again, Lily interrupted him.

‘You thought wrong. But I am here because I’m worried about you, Severus,’ Lily said, aware of how oxymoronic she was sounding, clear by the look on Snape’s face as well.

‘I am smart, Lily, but I’m lost,’ Snape said, more arrogantly than Lily would have preferred, but she decided to bite her tongue. It wasn’t her job to attempt to make him a better person anymore, no matter how much she wanted to help him.

‘McGonagall called me in a few days ago. She showed me a ring,’ Lily stated, almost unwilling to share the whole story with her once friend standing before her.

‘Okay?’ Snape replied slowly. ‘And?’

Lily huffed aggressively. ‘The ring was given to a young student and they were cursed by it. They’re in the Hospital Wing as we speak right now, lying on a bed, unmoving and unspeaking. It was a pretty nasty curse,’ Lily explained, hoping Snape would get the message, but he continued staring back at her, blankly.

‘I’m struggling to understand what this had to do with me,’ Snape replied, shoving his hands into his pockets as he stared at Lily.

‘They think the ring is yours, Severus!’ Lily exasperated, pushing a hand through her red locks. ‘And I need to know, don’t ask me why, because I’m not even sure, but I _have_ to know whether that ring is yours!’

Snape stared back at her incredulously, almost as though he was disappointed in her question toward him. That was a look she had never expected Snape to direct at her. In that moment, she realised that he had never looked upon Lily with any emotion other than a good one, from what she could remember.

‘Lily, why would I have a cursed ring, and even if I did, do you _really_ think that low of me that I would use it to harm someone?’ Snape spoke lowly, almost in an accusatory tone that made Lily shrink back into herself slightly.

‘I just - McGonagall said, _told_ me -’

‘I know that we’re not exactly friends anymore, Lily, from your own accord, but I never thought you would stoop so low as to accuse me of physically harming someone, you _know_ I’m not like that. I don’t care what McGonagall of all people told you, but that’s not how I behave,’ Snape hissed, taking a step back from the redhead, who was now hunching away from him.

‘Severus, I’m sorry,’ Lily said weakly, trying to take a step closer to him, but he refused.

‘I thought you were better than this, Lily, I really did,’ Snape scoffed, before turning his back and walking in the opposite direction from her, disappearing around a corner to head back to his Common Room.

She took in a shallow breath as she was left alone in the deserted corridor, the trolls in the tapestry dancing obnoxiously next to her, contrasting her current mood. She looked at them but saw something she wasn’t expecting to.

The tapestry seemed to be waving slightly, which was odd as there seemed to be no draft or wind she could feel in the corridor. The woven sewing looked as though something from behind it was causing it to glimmer. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared, with one blink of Lily’s eyes.

She dismissed it as her mind playing tricks on her from the many emotions that she was feeling at that moment. She pulled the sleeves of her jumper down over her hands and made her way back to the Common Room, prepared to drown herself in schoolwork until her friends returned. She hoped they’d return soon. She didn’t want to be alone for long, not with only the voices in her head to keep her company.

Snape was striding down the Hall quickly and ferociously, an intense surge of panic welling up in his chest, causing him a shortness of breath.

He had lost the ring. He’d lost the ring and he hadn’t even realised it.

Regulus Black had handed him it, at the beginning of the term, encased in a blue velvet box and with a warning to never touch it.

‘Just keep it safe, please?’ Regulus had begged, handing the ring box to Snape, who was not only confused by the sudden profession of trust from someone high up in the blood status ranks, but more flattered by it than he liked to admit.

‘Why, what is it? Who gave it to you?’ Snape asked, tucking the ring box away in his robe pocket, and Regulus’s face had relaxed once it was out of sight and out of mind, for him.

‘Remember Professor Sallow, the old Defence teacher?’ Regulus asked, Snape responding with a nod. ‘She came by my house, just at the end of summer. Spoke to my parents for a bit and then gave me that as a parting gift.’

‘That’s a bit odd for a recent teacher to do,’ Snape had mused, but Regulus waved off the comment.

‘Whatever, just keep it safe,’ the youngest Black brother had growled before disappearing out of the Common Room, leaving Snape with the cursed jewellery.

It wasn’t his own but was as good as. And although he didn’t feel guilty about the student getting cursed, he now didn’t know where to find it if Regulus came looking for it. That made his heart jump to his throat, despite the idea of the ring being cursed in the first place.

What Snape didn’t know was that Regulus was supposed to give that ring, as a gift, to Professor Slughorn.

What Sallow didn’t know was that Regulus was sharper than he looked. He had performed charms on it to find if there was magic surrounding the ring, and there was. A curse, a bad curse. And the guilt of keeping it for the sole purpose of cursing his own Head of House was eating him alive. So he passed the ring on.

Why it was meant for Slughorn, he had no idea. Sallow had told him that was the last time they’d make contact for a while, smiling the whole time she was speaking to him. Regulus didn’t trust her, she seemed too certain about everything.

She wanted Professor Slughorn dead. And despite everything that Regulus grew up being surrounded by, it hadn’t been quite enough to make him a murderer.


	50. Homesick

‘So, Marls,’ Emmeline announced at the Gryffindor table as the girls sat together, catching the blondes attention. ‘You and Sirius still not talking, then?’

Marlene took in a shallow breath as she tried not to scoff and show her irritancy at the obnoxious girls question. She presented her face pleasant as she lifted it up from her plate, calming her mind with rational thought.

‘With all due respect, Vance, I don’t see how that’s any of your business,’ Marlene replied, surprising herself. She hadn’t expected her tone to have quite so much bite in it. Emmeline looked taken aback from the sharp tongue, making Marlene want to screw her eyes shut. She was not in the mood for Emmeline’s high-pitched voice to be screeching in her ear.

‘Oh, _I’m_ sorry, I didn’t realise we’re now not allowed to talk about things the whole school’s talking about,’ Emmeline replied snidely, making Marlene fight the urge to roll her eyes.

‘There’s a reason they haven’t spoken about it to anyone and it’s because they _don’t_ want it spreading through the school like a wildfire,’ Lily interjected, showing her loyalty. Marlene sent her a small smile.

‘That’s ridiculous, though, she could easily tell us, it’s not like we’d go telling people,’ Emmeline said with an upturned nose, causing Dorcas to choke on one of her roast potatoes. Emmeline Vance was one of the biggest gossips Hogwarts had ever seen.

‘How are you and Prewett, Em?’ Alice jumped in to change the subject, with a sickly sweet smile on her face that anyone who knew her knew it was fake.

Emmeline’s face broke out into a smile.

‘Wonderful, he’s very sweet!’ she gushed, before collecting herself. ‘Although, he can be _too_ sweet sometimes. He’s very attentive.’

‘How can that possibly be a bad thing?’ Lily asked, an edge to her tone that Emmeline either chose to disregard or didn’t hear.

‘Well, you see, it can just be quite clingy, if you know what I mean,’ Emmeline said, before a smirk graced her features and her eyes had moved along the table. ‘Unlike some people.’

The girls followed her eyeline to see it reached a laughing Sirius Black. This time, Dorcas scoffed out loud and out of character at Emmeline’s wandering eye. Her gaze snapped to Dorcas with a glower, who was looking at her with disbelief at her actions.

‘Need I remind you, you have a fucking boyfriend who adores you and you’re staring at the man whore who would toss you away in five seconds flat once he’d be done with you and doesn’t even like you to begin with!’ Dorcas said harshly, the goodness in her defending the angel that everyone saw in Gideon Prewett. Lily gazed down at her food, smirking.

Emmeline glared profusely at Dorcas, a redness tinging her ears that had her dark brunette hair tucked behind them. Her knuckles were white around the cutlery she was holding and shaking slightly.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times like a goldfish, looking around to the other girls for assistance. When none of the offered a helping hand, she groaned out in frustration, setting her knife and fork down, attempting to get out of her seat.

‘I don’t know where you get off feeling so high and mighty, Meadowes,’ Emmeline hissed nastily. ‘At least I go after what I want instead of sending the guy I’ve liked for the past two years puppy dog eyes because he doesn’t like me back!’

‘Get the _fuck_ out of here!’ Alice stood up angrily, thumping her fists down on the table as she and Emmeline stared at each other from across the feast. Her outburst caught the attention of many sitting around them, and even caused Emmeline to jump.

‘I was just leaving,’ Emmeline replied snootily. ‘I thought as long as we were truth telling, we might as well air out a few other things!’

Emmeline’s heeled school shoes clipped the stone as she left the Hall, eyes following her as she left, only boosting her ego. Alice sat down, glaring at Emmeline’s back as she picked up the cutlery she’d dropped to return to her meal, furious at the words that had left the brunette’s mouth.

‘Dorcas, we’re so sorry, she didn’t mean that, she’s just been going through some stuff lately,’ Aurora tried to defend her friend awkwardly, Violet nodding along shyly but unsurely at Aurora’s apology.

‘It’s fine, truly, you don’t need to apologise,’ Dorcas smiled. She was feeling a bit unbalanced after Emmeline’s attack, more insecure than she’d felt in a long time.

‘She’s a fucking bitch,’ Alice muttered, stabbing her fork into her chips. Alice was extremely hot-tempered and easy to set off, there were many times when the girls had to relax her from blowing up a room.

Marlene nudged Alice with her elbow, shooting unsure glances towards Aurora and Violet. Despite their apology, they were still friends with Emmeline and would surely tell her everything that happened after she left.

‘Hey, relax, let it out later,’ Marlene whispered in her ear, making Alice roll her eyes, but Marlene knew that action wasn’t directed towards her.

A little way down the table, sat the four Marauders, although the atmosphere for animosity across the girls seemed to have spread to them also. Particularly to Sirius, who, for once, didn’t have his back facing the Slytherin table. Instead, his eyes were locked onto the silver and green side of the Hall.

His eyes were mainly glinting at the thick ring that sat upon his brother’s index finger. The ring that he should have received, the ring that should be his.

Sirius had turned seventeen, a man by the eyes of the law. Despite being glad that he was rid of his family, one aspect that sat with him was how much he should have inherited on the eve of his birthday, one of which was the ring he’d now never own.

It was a Black family heirloom, a ring made of pure silver with the House of Black crest imprinted on it. It was passed down to the eldest son of the family, each time on his seventeenth birthday, one of the oldest Black traditions that existed. Clearly, his late father had tossed it onto Regulus with rage, disregarding the tradition, which made Sirius chuckle, but it didn’t let him lose the feeling that the ring was supposed to be his.

Why that particular aspect of leaving his family had to stick, he didn’t know, but something about seeing Regulus with it on so casually made Sirius’s stomach squirm slightly. He had spent his whole childhood being told about that ring and has never really given a shit about it, was almost going to reject to wearing as a stand. So why did it stick?

‘I’m sure they’re just talking about class or something, don’t bother yourself with it,’ James muttered into Sirius’s ear, dragging Sirius out of his trance on the ring, frowning.

‘What are you talking about?’ Sirius replied, turning his face towards his brother and best friend in confusion.

‘Regulus and Mulciber are talking, I thought that was what you were glaring at,’ James explained, making Sirius’s head whip back around to see crowd of Slytherin’s surrounding his little brother, whispering to him in an unconcealed and sketchy manner. Sirius’s fist snarled.

‘That’s not nothing,’ Sirius growled, standing up. James tossed his eyes to the back of his head slightly as Sirius began striding over to the Slytherin table, his mouth in a downturned grimace as his eyes locked on to Regulus’s, who raised an eyebrow at the stance.

Once he reached his younger brother, Sirius pushed two Slytherin’s that were sitting across from Regulus out of the way, so he could temporarily lean on the table with his palms, his broad shoulders permanent. Regulus looked back at him, intrigued.

‘Outside,’ Sirius said lowly, twitching his head in a beckoning manner. Regulus nodded hesitantly, standing up to follow Sirius, who was already halfway out the Hall by that point.

Despite the two family members being estranged, the brotherly instinct and bond was still there, and it was strong, contrary to popular belief. The two of them didn’t particularly like each other or get along, but if one needed the other, they were there for each other, silent words passed between them.

Or so Sirius thought.

‘Reckon this’ll blow up?’ Remus muttered the question into James’s ear one the two Black brother’s left the Great Hall, leaving a commotion at the Slytherin table. James’s eyes narrowed at the suspicious, silver lined conversations that were now going on at the opposite end of dinner.

‘Undoubtedly,’ James muttered, as he saw Mulciber stand and look around shiftily before heading for the exit. ‘This isn’t going to go well.’

‘We should go, just in case,’ Peter whispered, leading to the three boys stepping up and trying, as sneakily as possible, leave the Great Hall without much attention.

In a darkened, secluded corridor of the castle, Sirius and Regulus were stood across from one another, having a hushed yet somewhat heated discussion. Regulus had his arms folded in an unaffected manner. Sirius towered over him a fair bit still, the confidence each of them emitted matched up.

‘I don’t see why you’re interested,’ Regulus growled, as his newly appointed Prefect badge glinted in the candlelight, catching Sirius’s eye. He hadn’t even known his brother had been appointed Prefect.

‘Because you’re better than them. You’re better than hanging around with that lot of Slytherin’s, you don’t actually _think_ like them!’ Sirius rambled, his voice getting louder.

‘Believe it or not, those are my friends that you’re insulting, and I don’t appreciate it,’ Regulus replied snidely, making Sirius scoff.

‘Oh, _please,_ they are not your friends, you don’t belong with them. You have some fucking morals at least,’ Sirius said darkly as his mind flashed to all the things he’d heard the Slytherin’s do recently. Sure, he and his mates would jinx the odd first year for a laugh, but they’d never send someone to the Hospital Wing.

‘For someone who claims he’s so open-minded, you’re incredibly narrow,’ Regulus answered, unfolding his arms as he got more and more frustrated.

‘What are you talking about?’ Sirius questioned, standing up straighter. He didn’t appreciate such an accusation.

‘You’re so sure that your way is the right way, that mother and father and all the rest of us are all so evil! We’re not! We’re people too, and for all your words about peace and not hating anyone, you sure do a hell of a good job at hating all of us!’

‘Don’t chuck yourself into that bracket with all of them, you’re not like that. You’re not like the rest of them. I made sure of it,’ Sirius retorted, his voice almost pleading for his demands to be true.

‘What the fuck would you know about what I’m like?’ Regulus questioned rhetorically, gripping his wand tighter in the pockets of his robes. Sirius eyes flitted to a corner in the corridor, before going back to his brother. He knew James was there, he could feel it.

‘Don’t even start, I’ve been there with you your whole life, and you have the nerve to tell me that I don’t know you?’

‘You don’t even know yourself, you’re a fucking hypocrite if anything,’ Regulus argued back.

‘Look, I didn’t want to argue with you. I came here to warn you about them, the little cult you hang out with. I’m your brother, it’s my job to protect you,’ Sirius enunciated, taking a step closer to Regulus, but he wasn’t having it.

Instead, Regulus let out a cold, unamused laugh, glaring at his elder, disowned brother in disbelief. Regulus couldn’t help it. He was so angry, not just at Sirius, but at his mother and father, who he had to endure, at the world. And he was tired, so tired at the world’s bullshit and mockery, the sheer audacity at the words the dark haired boy in front of him spoke.

‘Protect me? You lost the right to protect me a _long_ time ago,’ Regulus glowered, his grey eyes darkened to an almost black.

‘What the fuck do you mean, why have I lost that?’ Sirius demanded, eliciting a fury from Regulus that he’d never seen before. And if Sirius hadn’t seen it, then no one had. This was a new stage of anger.

‘BECAUSE YOU LEFT!’ Regulus bellowed in frustration, whipping out his wand and aiming it at Sirius, who back up slightly, reaching for his own.

At the Regulus’s declaration, two parties jumped out from either end of the corridor with their own wands out, prepared, and ready for a fight. At one end was James, Remus, and Peter, nodding to Sirius to let them know if they were to do anything. At the other end was Mulciber and a few other Slytherin cronies, ready to make their marks on the Gryffindors.

Regulus was staring into Sirius’s surprised eyes, eyes that were identical to his own, that bound the two of them together with an unshakeable vow. Regulus could feel his burst of anger dying down as the hand he was aiming the wand at Sirius with began to visibly shake.

‘You _left_ ,’ Regulus whispered defeatedly, lowering his wand and bowing his head.

The side parties also relaxed, almost confused at the transmission between the brothers. James couldn’t take his eyes off Sirius.

He’d never seen Sirius look so lonely. In fact, he’d never seen this emotion on his best friend’s face in his life. It was a mixture of disappointment and realisation and shock. It was as though he was watching something in Sirius snap, a sense of self and pride. As Sirius looked onto his brother, there was one emotion that was filling him higher than all the rest. Guilt.

‘You didn’t come back, you left without saying anything to me, without asking me. You left me in that house, with _them,_ and you expected everything to be alright? You didn’t tell me anything, you didn’t let me help. You just vanished into the night without a word,’ Regulus said brokenly, his voice conveying so much pain that it began to break James’s heart.

Sirius looked crestfallen as his brother continued. He couldn’t speak, his voice was lost and there no words for him.

‘You didn’t care, and you don’t. I didn’t pass your mind that night, not once,’ Regulus spoke, so softly Sirius almost couldn’t, unshed tears glimmering in his eyes threatening to fall. ‘You could have stayed.’

‘I couldn’t,’ Sirius choked out, tears welling in his own eyes. ‘Reg, I couldn’t.’

‘You could come back,’ Regulus swallowed. ‘Mother, she’d take you, she would.’

‘Reg, I can’t,’ Siris croaked further, hardly able to look his brother in the eye as he spoke. ‘You could come with me. You could leave them.’

‘I can’t,’ Regulus answered, biting his bottom lip in all hail to stop the tears in his eyes from falling. It was a mannerism both brother’s had.

They hadn’t been honest with each other, _about_ each other in a long time, well since Regulus had been sorted into Slytherin. They stared at each other, pale and wide eyed, both looked so frightened, so alone.

Sirius couldn’t deal with it anymore. Moving away from the wall, he almost passed Regulus to walk away into a corridor where no one was waiting. But he stopped. His back was to Regulus, but he turned around and grabbed his brother roughly.

Regulus had always been shorter than Sirius, it seemed to be nature. Sirius kissed the top of Regulus head, Regulus feeling the few tears drop down onto his dark locks.

‘I love you, Reg,’ Sirius said thickly into his brothers hair before letting go, just a few mere seconds late, before walking away, as though it never happened. Regulus was left, watching as his brother disappeared around another corner. A last goodbye.

Regulus then sped off, avoiding the eye contact of Mulciber as he headed in his direction to get back to the Slytherin Common Room. Mulciber gave James one last glare, before all the Slytherin’s left the corridor.

‘I should go after him,’ James muttered, to which Remus and Peter both nodded. None of them knew what to say. They’d never seen Sirius like that.

‘Get the Map out,’ Remus muttered in agreement.

‘Let me go,’ a delicate voice announced from behind them, making them jump.

‘When the fuck did you get here?’ James asked as they turned around to see Marlene standing behind them.

‘You three are not as sneaky as you like to think,’ she said, crossing her arms over her chest. ‘At least not to me, you forget that I’ve known you since we were in cribs, James.’

‘You wouldn’t even know where to go, Marls,’ Remus said in a tired voice. The full moon was coming.

‘Believe me,’ Marlene began walking away from them, down the same corridor that Sirius went. ‘I do.’

‘Marls, I’m not sure about this!’ James yelled after her, but Marlene didn’t even so much as look back.

She found him in his usual spot of the Astronomy Tower. The only difference was the surrounding sky was lighter than the usual dark purple or blue where he could normally be found. He heard her pad up the steps, turning his head to see who was coming to disturb his peace. Needless to say, he was surprised to see Marlene McKinnon.

‘You’re the last person I’d expect to see here right now,’ Sirius said bluntly, surprising both himself and the blonde. She hadn’t though he’d be the first to speak, especially not after what just happened. But there was something about her that made Sirius feel calm.

‘Can’t argue with you there,’ Marlene replied with a sigh as she went to sit opposite him, rubbing her arms slightly to warm herself up from the chilly air.

‘Did James sent you,’ Sirius asked emotionlessly as he took out a cigarette, lighting the end with his wand. Marlene let him inhale deeply before replying.

‘No. He didn’t want me to go,’ Marlene replied simply.

‘Smart man,’ Sirius scoffed, taking another drag. ‘So, McKinnon. To what do I owe the pleasure? Last I heard, you were still pissed at me,’ he spoke theatrically.

Any signs that he had been crying just mere moments ago were eradicated from his face. Marlene couldn’t help but admire him for it.

‘Come to lecture me again about how dreadfully I treat my brother, or how I tell him things I shouldn’t,’ Sirius continued bitterly. He knew he was about to start lashing out. He didn’t want to, not against Marlene, but he was certainly going to. And Marlene was planning to take every bit of it. Although she’d never admit it, she knew she deserved it a little.

‘No,’ she replied plainly.

‘Then what the fuck do you want?’ Sirius asked angrily, the cigarette taking the brunt of his fury. But his anger was different to Regulus’s. It wasn’t scary, at least not to Marlene. And entirely self-inflicted.

‘I’m preventing you from taking this out on James,’ Marlene spoke truthfully. She knew James was going through shit himself, as was Remus. They didn’t need Sirius’s anger on top of their own problems. Although she didn’t know what James was going through, she knew him well enough to leave him be and not push it. And Sirius’s anger would have pushed it.

Sirius let out a cold, single laugh. ‘So, what? I’m supposed to take it out on you am I? The fact that I left my brother in that dragon hole. The fact that I’m a selfish bastard who’s only thought about himself for the past five years. ‘Cause, really McKinnon, I don’t think you can take that!’ he finished with a yell and stood up, beginning to pace the Tower.

Marlene made sure to keep her expression cold. She knew that if she showed any sympathy or, worst of all, pity, Sirius would well and truly lose it.

‘Try me,’ she dared him. He stopped pacing and stared at her mor a moment, leading him to another laugh.

‘If I was to take it out on you, McKinnon, we’d be shagging right now,’ he spoke crudely, letting out another puff of smoke. ‘And Merlin knows, I just _can’t_ shag you.’

She wanted to ask him why, she desperately did. But she couldn’t. She wouldn’t allow Sirius to say anything that he’d then later regret. And as much as she’d maybe be willing, their friendship came first. Their friendship always came first.

‘Then pretend I’m James,’ she offered as Sirius collapsed back into his original position she found him in. He raised one of his perfect, dark eyebrows at her incredulously.

‘No offence, McKinnon, but you’d need to care about your hair a whole lot more if you were to come anywhere near to passing for James,’ Sirius replied.

‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ Marlene chuckled, which made Sirius let out a small laugh before he remembered his place again.

They sat in silence for a while after that, across from each other, allowing the wind and the cold to encompass them. Sirius offered her a cigarette and they smoked the evening away, his world surrounded in more grey smoke than necessary. Eventually, Marlene spoke.

‘He knows you love him,’ she said, tossing her third, finished cigarette over the balcony.

‘I bloody hope so.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew ... rough chapter and rough scene, I just hope I've done it justice.  
> That chapter was hands down one of the ones that took me longest to write, because I wanted to get it perfect. I'm still sure it isn't, but hey, God loves a trier.  
> It feels like the first storyline of this fic that come to its finale, it's strange. Of course, this book is long from finished and we have so much further to go, but it's the Black brother's truly separating ... and that's weird.  
> Anyway, I hope you're all keeping safe and you're all happy and fresh as daisies,  
> Love, Julia xx


	51. Concrete Angel

‘So, remind me again. She’s still dating Prewett, right?’ James asked Marlene as James stared curiously up to one of the stands of the Quidditch pitch as he allowed his team to have a five minute break from the heavy training session he was putting the Gryffindor’s through. After their loss to Slytherin, he was sparing no expense.

All of a sudden, he was feeling very sympathetic towards Ciaran Rumsfeld, the previous Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. He had been a tough Captain, and James was beginning to understand the pressure of why.

‘Yep,’ Marlene replied, popping the ending of her response. ‘One would think you’d be a bit more subtle about not fancying your own boyfriend,’ Marlene chuckled humorously as she busied herself in tweaking some stray twigs from her broom to keep it streamlined.

Sirius had spent his break flying near the Gryffindor stands of the stadium, flirting with Emmeline Vance, who had very much been seeking Sirius out as of late.

Word had somehow spread of Sirius and Regulus’s altercation in the corridors of the school, although the story had now been passed down so many times that no one was sure of what the real story was. Nevertheless, Emmeline had seemed to take it upon herself to be Sirius’s personal rehabilitation centre after hearing a rumour about how Regulus had called all the Slytherin’s to jump on Sirius. Remus found this rumour particularly ironic, as Sirius didn’t have so much as a visible scratch on him.

Of course this theory was combatted with the fact that Madam Pomfrey had patched Sirius up very well. Remus had responded to that with saying they didn’t know Sirius very well at all if they’d though he’d want to hide his battle scars.

Sirius was very happily lapping up the strong attention from girls either way, and James wasn’t appreciating how it was affecting his Quidditch practice, particularly when he had called it as five in the morning on a Tuesday. He had half a mind to fly over to Emmeline and tell her to stop making herself such an easy target.

‘Does Prewett know she’s here? Seems like something you’d tell your boyfriend, being that keen to get out of bed,’ James continued, wrinkling his nose at the sight of Sirius and Emmeline. It left a bad taste in his mouth, the way she was behaving, and he didn’t appreciate having Sirius’s concentration distracted. The boy liked showing off too much.

‘Doubt it,’ Marlene answered. ‘How’s he been, by the way? Since, well, you know.’

‘He’s been alright,’ James replied nonchalantly. ‘He’s been dealing it in the Sirius way, you know. Pretend everything’s fine, smile a lot, and shag a few birds. Which he hasn’t had much struggle with, that’s for sure,’ James laughed at his final comment.

‘In other words, he hasn’t said anything,’ Marlene summed up James’s thoughts, to which he nodded.

‘Pretty much,’ he agreed. ‘I know it was a while ago, but did he say anything to you when you found him that day?’

‘I honestly know as much as you James, if not less. He ain’t saying shit,’ Marlene drawled before swinging her leg over her broomstick. ‘I’m going to do a few laps,’ she announced before kicking off the ground and flying into the air.

James sighed before pressing his whistle to his lips and blowing, signalling that the teams break was over with a high pitched tone.

The Quidditch practice lead them through the day into its climax of Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Rudolf Sarras.

They were moving into the weeks of the curriculum where they were to be shown demonstrations of the three Unforgivable Curses, providing the students with a break from studying and practicing non-verbal spells, which many of them found ungodly difficult. Sarras had been rather supportive throughout the process but was partial to the occasional sigh of defeat when a student wasn’t grasping the concept or execution.

‘I’m sure you will all be glad to know that we will be leaving non-verbal spells until after the holidays,’ Professor Sarras’s American accent wafted into the students ears from the back of the classroom, enticing them to turn around. ‘But, to combat that, we will be focusing on something rather dark for the rest of the term. Would anyone care to guess what that will be?’

He posed the question as he strutted to the front of the class, all eyes following him like shadows. He nodded to Mary Macdonald, who had timidly put her hand up to answer the question.

‘The Unforgivable Curse, sir,’ she answered his question, to which Sarras smiled in response.

‘Yes, Miss Macdonald, well done,’ he awarded her. ‘The Unforgiveable Curses. How many are there?’

‘Three, sir,’ Lily Evans called out, after Sarras gestured to her upheld hand to reply.

‘Very good, Miss Evans, and could you name them?’

‘The Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse and the Killing Curse,’ Lily replied, swallowing uncomfortably as she announced them to the class. She had done some background reading on the curses when she’d first heard of them in her third year, and she didn’t read what she’d expected to find.

They were horrible, disgusting. She couldn’t understand why they would have ever been invented, causing so much torture and pain to others. It was her first true glimpse into the darkness of magic.

‘Ten points to Gryffindor,’ Sarras rewarded her, somewhat solemnly. ‘They are awful curses, and if one is ever caught using them on another witch or wizard, it earns a one-way ticket to Azkaban.’

Sirius did his best not to snort at the aspect of Azkaban. His mother had charmed the house so that any use of the curses could not be traced by the Ministry. Orion and Walburga Black would never face the consequences of their torturous ways.

‘We will be starting with the Cruciatus Curse today as, purely for my own selfish reasons. It is the one I harbour the most hatred of out of all three and I wish for it to be over as quickly as possible,’ Sarras admitted to the class, a slight shudder crossing his body at his unwillingness to demonstrate the spell.

From behind his desk, Sarras pulled out a wire cage that had a small white mouse scurrying about inside it on some straw. It’s nose was quivering curiously as it adventured around the cage, the innocence of the creature causing a sense of uneasiness to drift through the class.

Sarras opened the top lid of the wire cage to allow him easier access, the mouse looking up to him momentarily before it went back to its business. The professor swallowed. He truly despised the curse.

‘Hey, Sirius,’ a sickly sweet voice said from behind the disowned boy, making him turn around to face the girl it came from. He tried his best not to roll his eyes.

‘Yes, Vance?’ he asked Emmeline, his voice tired.

‘Just wanted to check that you were still alright,’ she giggled, batting her eyelashes at the attractive teenager. Siris pretended to think deeply for a second before flashing her a sarcastic smile.

‘Since you asked me twenty minutes ago, can’t say much has changed,’ Sirius replied, turning back to face the front of the class, resting his chin in his hand. ‘Shut up,’ he grunted to James, who was obviously smirking at the tiresome situation.

‘Starting to dislike the clinginess, Pads?’ James asked rhetorically, his shoulders shaking slightly from the repressed laughter he was experiencing from Sirius’s glare at him.

‘The Cruciatus Curse,’ Sarras said, grabbing the attention of the class again, ‘can unfortunately cause serious and permanent mental injury if exposed to it for a prolonged period of time. These permanent effects are considered worse than death by most of the wizarding community, and as a result, the Cruciatus curse is seen as worse than the Killing Curse.’

Sarras reached his hand into the cage and grasped the white mouse between his fingers, so it was squirming between them as he lifted it out of the cage. He tried to keep his face as neutral as possible but started to question why he chose a fluffy animal to perform this particular experiment.

‘The effect of a prolonged Cruciatus Curse are not reversible. Perhaps the most disturbing part of this curse is that the person casting it has to really _want_ to cause the person or creature in front of them harm, they almost have to _enjoy_ it. Merely muttering the words won’t work, there has to be a deep desire to cause the victim pain, a pleasure in causing suffering. Another reason as to why this Curse is so dreadfully terrible.’

‘Why would anyone want to use it then?’ Peter asked innocently. Sarras almost smiled at him, glad for the fact there were such people left in the world, and happy that a student finally spoke. He was beginning to get lost in his own thoughts as he explained the curse.

‘Many reasons, Mr Pettigrew,’ Sarras answered. ‘Many of which I, myself, couldn’t even begin to understand, because I have no desire to harm someone like that.’

Sirius swallowed uncomfortably, James’s gaze darting to him for a second. Sirius watched closely as Sarras picked up his wand and aimed it, almost delicately, at the white mouse in his hand. The mouse started squirming more vigorously, almost as though it could sense that something bad was about to happen.

Sirius watched as Sarras closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. The professor then opened them, and they were darker than they were before, almost as though he’d transported himself somewhere, to some emotion where he harboured so much hatred and anger. His eyes were flashing with a despise that Sirius had never seen in the good-natured teacher before.

‘ _Crucio.’_

Sirius’s eyes darted to the mouse instantly as the curse left Sarras’s mouth. The squeals of pain that left the mouse as it was subjected to arguably the worst kind of pain known to man, rang in Sirius’s ears like a broken whistle, drowning out any other sound that could relieve the pain of memory, every thought that he had pushed to the back of his head was coming forward in a forceful, unwelcome manner.

He screwed his eyes shut as the noise grew louder, flashes of ropes and cuts and blood, white-hot pain searing through his head, a satanic cackle of a deep proud man running around the edges of his brain, bringing forward every remembrance and discarded thought of childhood agony that he’d fought to suppress back to the surface. He felt like a child again.

‘STOP! Can’t you see he can’t take it, _stop it!’_ the voice of Lily Evans brough Sirius back to reality.

Sarras’s head whipped up and the connection between his wand and the mouse was broken, the small, white creature falling limp in his hand. His eyes darted from Lily, following her eyeline to Sirius, who was sat shaking at his desk.

Sirius heard the clunk of Sarras’s wand falling to his desk and he jumped, realising the entire class was sending him glances and stares of uncertainty and pity.

‘Sirius,’ James started, but he wasn’t able to hear the rest. Sirius had grabbed the few things he placed on his desk, threw them into his rucksack and stormed out of the classroom, embarrassed and frustrated, slamming the door behind him.

Sarras fell back against his desk, gently dropping the mouse out of his band, not bothering to pick up his wand again. The class looked up at him expectantly, waiting for instruction as no one dared to speak, a deathly silence falling over them.

‘Uh,’ Sarras stuttered, shaking his head to try and jump-start him out of his trance. He cleared his throat. ‘That’s class over for today. A foot and a half essay on the Cruciatus Curse is due on Monday. Class dismissed.’

Before anyone could move, Sarras disappeared up to stairs to his office, locking the door. Shocked and unsure, chairs began scraping back as the class slowly filed its way out, forty-five minutes sooner than they should have.

Sirius wasn’t seen at dinner and hadn’t been seen before or since either. As the rest of the boys headed up to their dorm and began getting ready for bed, they began to get a worried. They were used to Sirius disappearing at night of the more often than not occasion, but not during most of the day. It wasn’t that they didn’t know where he was, they did. That was what the Map was for, but they knew it was better to leave Sirius alone in moments like these. He wouldn’t be up for company.

Sirius was sat in the Owlery, surrounded by and assortment of the winged animals that were beginning to wake up for a night of hunting. The hours he had been sat there had gone by quickly for him, quicker than he expected, he almost hadn’t noticed that it had gotten quite dark, the Scottish winter chill of the night beginning to attack him.

‘Ow,’ Sirius groaned as he felt something sharp stab him in his arm, distracting him from disdainfully staring up at the night sky.

He looked down to his hand to see a brown, wide-eyed owl pecking at him with a note tied around in its leg. Sirius frowned a shifted himself slightly to allow him to dismantle the note from the owl, which ruffled its feathers before flying off to the top of the tower.

It wasn’t a handwriting that Sirius recognised to be one of his friends, the curves and accents proclaiming a more mature execution. He unrolled the small scroll of parchment, his eyes darting across the pale yellow sheet.

_Mr Black, Come and see me as soon as possible, tonight. Don’t worry about curfew, show anyone who may catch you this note, and they’ll let you go. I have some things I need to discuss with you. Professor R. Sarras_

A sigh escaped Sirius’s lungs as he reread the note a few times. In complete honesty, the Defence Against the Dark Arts was the last person he wanted to see at this moment in time.

But there was something in Professor Sarras’s eyes that made Sirius’s blood run cold. Before the teacher had cast the curse, his whole demeanour and character changed to accommodate the ability to say the words that caused so much pain.

He clambered off the stone floor of the Owlery, the noise he produced why doing so disturbing some of the owls, their amber eyes shooting him glares. Nobody caught him as he made his way through the dark castle, his wand lit up before him. He passed a few house elves scurried passed him, making their way around the chores of the castle, but he eventually reached the large door that opened to reveal the classroom he’d stormed out of earlier in the day.

He pushed the door open to reveal an empty classroom with a few candles lit throughout it. Assuming Sarras was in his office, Sirius scoffed to himself. It seemed to be a trend, with Defence professor’s wanting to speak with him and have heart to hearts. Sirius wouldn’t even have heart to hearts with his best friends, bar James very occasionally, so he didn’t know what a teacher who’d barely been at the school for five minutes thought they’d get out of him.

He chapped the office door lightly, hearing a soft voice telling him to enter. His eyes stretched from corner to corner of the office, surprised by the redesign. In comparison to Sallow’s room, Sarras’s office was incredibly plain. A stack of brown trunks sat in the corner an stray papers were strewn across the office in a lazy disorganised matter.

‘Still unpacking?’ Sirius asked cheekily, visibly unimpressed by the décor and unbothered to hide his reactions.

Sarras was leaning against one of the walls, chuckling at his student’s comment. He pushed himself off and walked towards the desk that stood in the middle of the room, sitting down behind it, and gesturing to Sirius to sit down in front of him.

‘I don’t own many things,’ Sarras replied, looking around his room as he leaned back into his chair. ‘I move around too much for that.’

‘How come?’

‘When people believe you’re a dangerous wizard, it’s hard to stay in one place for too long,’ Sarras sighed honestly, turning his head back to look at the young adult in front of him.

‘An outcast?’ Sirius offered lowly, his tone more of an answer than a question.

Sarras nodded. ‘Yeah, something like that.’

Sirius knew there was no point in questioning the teacher deeper. Many students had attempted to interrogate him throughout their classes, but he clammed up and quickly changed the subject, without so much acknowledging his assumed crimes. Sirius could understand why.

‘So, why did you want to speak with me?’ Sirius asked, slapping his hands to his thighs, and rubbing them up and down a few times. ‘I’m not going to sugar coat it, I’m assuming it’s about today’s class.’

Sarras raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn’t expected Sirius to jump to the point so quickly, let alone willingly.

‘More so about you. And your reaction. To the Cruciatus Curse,’ Sarras responded, somewhat nervously. Sirius raised his eyebrow cockily as he stared down the teacher.

‘With all due respect, sir, I almost think it’s your reaction we should be questioning more than anything,’ he retorted, yet again, taking Sarras aback with his statements.

‘Explain to me what you mean by that, Mr Black,’ Sarras queried curiously, but Sirius’s response was one that he would expect from any teenager, and many adults during a conversation such as this. An eye roll.

‘Please, don’t try that therapist bullshit with me,’ Sirius exasperated, relaxing furthermore into his chair. Sarras took that as a good sign. ‘I can see through it all, and I’m not interested. I’m not talking, no matter how much people want me to.’

‘You’ve been having meetings with Professor McGonagall, yes?’

‘So, what’s that to you?’

‘About your home situation, what happened over the summer. Unfortunately, it’s rather hot gossip across the school.’

‘Well, if it appears you already know everything, why in Merlin’s name do you need my word for it’

‘You’ve experienced it, haven’t you?’ Sarras announced, which shot Sirius into silence. ‘The Cruciatus Curse. You’ve had it inflicted upon you, you’ve _felt_ it. You _know_ how badly it hurts, you could feel the hatred of whoever cast it burning through you. It’s why you had the reaction you did.’

Sirius’s eyelid’s felt heavy as he stared back at the professor who had just put across his hypothesis for Sirius’s reaction. Sirius wasn’t keen on people prying into his personal life to begin with. Having someone guess the contents felt like a new level of invasion.

‘With all due respect, _Professor_ ,’ Sirius drawled darkly, ‘you seemed all too comfortable casting the curse.’

Sarras’s breath shallowed as he too in the distaste the student in front of him was staring at him with. He was all too used to those glares, the glares that told him he didn’t belong anywhere, that accused him of being evil when he wasn’t. They were the same glares that tortured him at MACUSA.

‘If only I was the one casting the curse, Mr Black,’ Sarras replied sinisterly.

‘I saw it in your eyes,’ Sirius said accusingly. ‘You’ve done it before, I could see it. Maybe in another life, but you’ve done it.’

‘Would it surprise you if I told you that I only harbour the hatred to cast that curse because I’ve had it done to me? Many a time?’ Sarras asked. This time, he was the one surprising Sirius, and not the other way around.

‘What do you mean?’

‘The American Magical Congress is tough, Mr Black,’ Sarras explained. ‘Evil, sometimes, in its workings. _Especially_ if they don’t want something to get out.’

‘What are you saying? Did they -’

‘Yes, Mr Black,’ Sarras sniffed. ‘They tortured me. For fifty-seven days. I wouldn’t allow them to break me. I couldn’t. And I was an anomaly. They couldn’t break me, no matter how many dementors the exposed me to, no matter how many of those wretched Unforgivable Curse they made me the subject of, they couldn’t break me. But I have so much darkness inside me now, darkness I can channel whenever needed.’

Sirius didn’t know what to say. Any human being with a conscience could see the behind Sarras’s eyes as his brain went down memory lane, remembering all the days he’d spent in that dark, windowless chamber, with nothing but torturous wizards and witches attacking him for days on end.

‘Did you love her?’ Sirius asked, making Sarras raise his head back to the boy. Before everything, a smile would appear on his face when he would think of his sweet Charlotte. But those days were over.

‘I do,’ he murmured quietly.

‘Are you innocent?’ Sirius questioned bravely, having plucked up the courage to do so. Sarras laughed humorously. Nobody in his classes had asked him that. They all wanted to know the details of his arrest, of what he’d supposedly done. But no one asked if he’d _actually_ committed the crimes.

‘My point, Mr Black, is that, I think you’re incredibly brave,’ Sarras admitted. ‘You’re to be admired. And I understand what it’s like to have people spread rumours of you. I know what it’s like to be out of control.’

Sirius left the office soon after that, his mind heavy with the weight of many things. He hadn’t realised how truly late it gotten until he heard the large clock in the bell tower strike once, signalling it was one in the morning.

The grumbling and disgruntled Fat Lady swung open for him, unamused by the fact she’d been woken up from a rather delightful snooze, only for Sirius to run into something solid and invisible.

‘Shit, what the fuck!’ Sirius exclaimed before James’s head struck out from mid-air, floating in front of Sirius’s face.

‘ _Shh!_ You’ll wake up the whole Tower, _quiet!_ ’ James hushed him, pulling him into the Common Room, Sirius still feel rather unfocused. ‘What are you still doing up?’

‘Me? What about you!’ Sirius combatted defensively. ‘Where the fuck are you going at this time of night?’

‘I, uh,’ James stuttered, tripping up on his sentences. ‘I was going to go to the kitchens for a snack. I was feeling a little hungry.’

Sirius narrowed his eyes onto James, who could feel the back of his neck start to flush at the scrutiny of stare.

‘I’ll come down with you. I’m feeling a bit peckish myself,’ Sirius said suspiciously. He could see in James’s eyes that his brother was starting to panic.

‘No!’ James said, too quickly for anyone’s liking before he composed himself. ‘I mean, no. You’ve only just got in. I’ll go down to the kitchens, get us some snacks. You get yourself into you pyjamas and I’ll meet you back down here.’

James was truly quite proud of himself for that improvisation as he left Sirius in the Common Room under pretences that snacks were to return.

James was sprinting to the fourth floor as fast as his legs would carry him, his blood draining into his crotch. He pushed open a door to one of the many abandoned classrooms of Hogwarts to see Aoibh Imptrop there waiting for him. He tossed the invisibility cloak down onto the ground and crept up behind her, catching her waist suggestively.

‘I can’t stay long, love, but we’ll have some fun,’ James grinned, catching her earlobe in between his teeth

‘James,’ he heard her teary, sniffly voice grounded James’s actions to a halt. She turned to face him and threw her arms around his neck, burrowing his face into his shoulders. James wrapped his arms around her in concern, feeling her shake against him.

‘Aoibh,’ James whispered. ‘What happened?’

‘They found her, James! They’ve found my grandmother, the one that stole all the goblin gold! They killed her and my mum. Apparently my dad got away and he’s now on the run. But they’re going to come after me James!’ Aoibh’s tears started to soak through James’s shirt as she cried onto him.

He sank onto the floor with her, cradling the Slytherin beauty in his hands. He tried his best to whisper comforting words into her hair and soothe her, but he was out of his depth and he knew it. She sat, shaking on him and he was completely and utterly useless. He had no idea what to do.

And then he froze. He had been rocking with Aoibh from side to side, but then he noticed something. Something that should have been padding his back pocket. Something he wasn’t meant to forget.

‘Fuck,’ he hissed lethally. ‘I left the fucking Map.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will say, I'm surprised I've not seen a questioning of Aoibh's surname yet ... there's a little link to it earlier in the story, but maybe this chapter will remind you a little ;)  
> I actually forgot how long this chapter was until now lol :) and how are we all liking Sarras? Let me know what your thoughts are on him so far, cos I'm intrigued to know, he's definitely one of my more interesting original characters, I'm quite proud of him :) ahaha  
> And, come on, how long do we reckon it's going to take before Sirius starts interrogating James ... ;)  
> Love, Julia xx


	52. Walls of Tears

‘Even I hate this bloody potion,’ Lily complained quietly as she diced up her second batch of daisy roots to throw into the cauldron. Her words of dismay made Gideon Prewett laugh, her assigned partner for this particular experiment, making her blush slightly.

‘I’m with you there, Lils, it’s a tricky one,’ he chuckled, scratching the back of his neck as he reread several of the instruction, while meticulously planning out the next few ingredients to throw in.

Gideon had been delighted when he’d been paired up with Lily as a partner for the final potion brewing of the year as it was a well-known fact that she was bloody brilliant at it. Gideon was average at Potions at best but being partnered up with Lily meant that Slughorn was providing him with a bit more attention than usual, which both please and irritated him.

Lily had never been more relieved that Emmeline Vance didn’t take Potions.

‘Very good, Mr Prewett!’ Slughorn exclaimed as he was passing their station, making Lily cringe. ‘Just one lesson with Miss Evans and your skills have already started improving!’

‘I am _so_ sorry!’ Lily apologised bashfully once Slughorn moved on to Remus and Marlene who had been partnered together and also doing a very good job, their brilliant minds combined. ‘I wish he wouldn’t do that.’

‘Don’t worry, Lily. The man’s just proud to not have a mediocre student for once,’ Gideon grinned in response, patting Lily on the shoulder with one of his large hands, causing shivers to run down her spine. She couldn’t deny that lately, it felt like the world was throwing her and Gideon together a little bit.

‘None of us are mediocre, and he would do well with laying off the bloody favouritism,’ Lily smirked as she now tossed her delicately cut dairy roots into the bubbling cauldron before her.

‘Tell me about it, this schools full of it,’ Gideon expanded upon what his redhead counterpart had said. ‘Take McGonagall with Black and Potter. Absolutely _loves_ them but would deny it until she was blue in the face!’

‘Who’s favourite am I?’ James appeared by Lily’s side suddenly, making her jump at the sound of his cheeky smile and messy hair. ‘Alright, Evans?’

‘You’re McGonagall’s favourite, not that she’d ever admit it,’ Gideon grinned back at James, filling him in on the conversation, much to Lily’s dismay.

‘Ah, but of course!’ James exclaimed happily. ‘I’m pretty sure the boys and I have managed to make her smile more times in the past five and a half years than she has in her whole lifetime. I think we have a gift.’

‘Was there something you wanted, Potter?’ Lily interrupted in a bored tone, shooting him an unimpressed look, which only made the bespectacled boys grin widen, much to her annoyance.

‘Yes, actually. I need to borrow some shrivelfigs, Marls and I fucked up our last bunch,’ James said teasingly, making Lily roll her eyes.

‘You distracted her probably,’ Lily sneered, dropping a few shrivelfigs into James’s hand. ‘Marls never messes up Potions.’

‘Ah, thank you, Lily flower!’ James taunted her with the nickname Lily hadn’t heard in quite some time now. She felt her toes scrunch in her shoes. ‘And Marls and I were just having a good time, not our fault the potion became collateral damage.’

‘Well I suggest you go and help her then, instead of causing chaos here,’ Lily demanded, waving her hand for James to go.

James raised his eyebrows at the redhead before letting out a sigh. ‘Good luck with her, mate,’ he bid Gideon goodbye as he returned to his own workstation.

‘Still not Potter’s biggest fan, then?’ Gideon chuckled, his eyes flicking between the pair.

‘How did you guess?’ Lily asked sarcastically, a small smile gracing her face as her attention drew back to Gideon.

‘From what I know, he hasn’t asked you out once since the year started. Didn’t he use to do that, like, every two days?’ Gideon asked humorously. Lily didn’t particularly want to talk about this. The name James Potter brought back painful memories.

‘Every day, actually,’ she corrected Gideon, busying herself in measuring some more ingredients.

‘He’s not a bad guy, you know. Quite funny really,’ Gideon continued, making Lily wrinkle her nose slightly. ‘What bothers you so much about him still?’

‘You need to stir anti-clockwise now, three times,’ Lily said, ignoring the question.

Truthfully, Gideon wasn’t wrong. In the grand scheme of things, most of the behaviours James had portrayed to Lily over the past years weren’t breaking the surface of sixth year, other than the occasional slip up, like being called “Lily-flower.” Other than those, Lily knew that her coldness towards James was drawing on being labelled as more and more irrational, and she didn’t want to cause drifts between her friendships between the girls, and theirs with James.

She knew that all of the girls, including Marlene at points over the years, had distanced themselves from James and maintained it as a favour for her, but those shields seemed to be breaking down this year. And she couldn’t blame them. Although Lily wouldn’t admit it even if the was a wand with _Avada Kedavra_ on the tip of it pointed at her head, the Marauders were fun.

If there was one thing Lily had done this year, it was self-reflection. Trying to get her head around James wasn’t made easier by the fact her liking for Gideon Prewett was growing stronger by the day, and she wasn’t too sure what her next move was.

‘Lily?’ a voice suddenly floated into her head and she whipped her head up to see Gideon smiling down at her, amused. ‘You kind of got lost in your own head there for a second, you alright?’

Lily unconsciously shook her head aggressively. ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, I zoned out there for a second. Have you stirred it anti-clockwise?’ she asked disjointedly.

‘Yep, I was just awaiting my next instruction,’ Gideon grinned happily, gesturing to her. That was another thing Lily truly liked about the red-headed twin. He was always very happy and cheery, the complete opposite to what she had been ever since the start of summer. It was probably another reason why she liked being around him so much.

‘Yourself and Gideon seemed to be getting cosy,’ the teasing voice of Marlene McKinnon wafted through her eardrums as Lily and the blonde made their way to lunch. Lily scowled at her friend, who had her usual mischievous glint in her eye and all-knowing smirk on her lips.

‘If you think I’m going _anywhere_ near that, you are barmy,’ Lily scoffed as they entered the Great Hall and sat at one of the more secluded spots at the Gryffindor table so no one could overhear them. ‘I am in no mood to be castrated by Emmeline Vance.’

Marlene rolled her eyes.

‘Well, now you’re just being boring. I’m quite enjoying this little spat between yourself and Vance. It makes being in Charms far more entertaining, the murderous, lovelorn glares that are passed between the two of you. It’s enough to make a grown man cry,’ Marlene’s voice shook mockingly as she reached the end of her soliloquy. It was only when Lily punched her arm that the blonde’s giggling restarted.

‘You’re a menace,’ Lily muttered, tucking into her pea soup.

It wasn’t long before Dorcas and Alice joined them, their conversation more than confusing the other two girls that were sat at the table, with Dorcas deeply attempting to convince Alice of something.

‘Oh, come on! It would only be for one night, and I’m sure we could sneak in and out without getting caught!’ Dorcas implored.

‘Cas,’ Alice sighed, ‘not only is your plan deeply flawed on several fundamental levels of sneaking in and out of this bloody castle, but you’ve also still not told me how the hell we’d get to London in the first place! I know you’re smart and all that, but I doubt even _you_ have already managed to apparate, which you can’t do within Hogwarts grounds anyway.’

‘What in Merlin’s name are you talking about?’ Marlene asked, dog-earring the page she was reading in the _Daily Prophet_ for later. She watched as the two arguing girls exchanged looks, one of plead and one of irritation. Alice sighed again, rolling her eyes and folding her arms.

‘Dorcas thinks it’s plausible for us four to sneak out to a _Spellbound_ concert in London this January but has yet to inform me of exactly how she plans to make this possible,’ Alice explained. Lily furrowed her brows slightly while Marlene’s mischievous smirk returned.

‘That sounds sick,’ she whispered, making Dorcas grin.

‘Don’t listen to her, Cas, she barely manages to put one foot in front of the other, let alone make it London without a means of transport,’ Lily shot the idea down almost instantly. ‘There is no way we’d be able to make it to London without someone, somewhere, getting wind of something.’

‘Um, excuse me, who owns the eight-inch heels?’ Marlene interchanged, looking deeply offended by Lily’s earlier comments.

The redhead simply waved her off.

‘I actually _do_ have a plan for how to get us there, if you’d like to know, but I can’t exactly tell you here because someone might overhear, and I’m kind of sworn to secrecy about this mode of transport,’ Dorcas begged them to understand, but the sceptical looks less than wore off.

‘Just bloody tell us the now, the Hall is so loud and there’s no one next to us, it’s hardly like anyone’s going to pay attention to what we’re talking about!’ Alice exclaimed.

Dorcas looked between her three friends expectant face. She pondered for a moment before letting out a breath and giving in.

‘ _Fine_ ,’ she moaned, ‘but this does not leave the four of us, understood?’

‘It’s almost like we haven’t been friends for nearly six years,’ Lily said sardonically, but Dorcas ignored her.

‘There’s this fireplace with a Floo network in a pub that no one ever goes to in Hogsmeade. I know the owner, Heron, he’s lovely. He wouldn’t care at all, us using it, and he wouldn’t tell anyone about it either,’ Dorcas explained desperately.

‘That’s all well and good, with this “Heron” guy, but how in the name of galloping gargoyle’s do you expect us to sneak out of the actual castle without being noticed?’ Lily asked, raising a well groomed brow.

‘There’s this … fucking hell, I really shouldn’t be saying this,’ Dorcas exasperated, gearing herself up to explain. ‘You know the statue of the one-eyed witch? It’s a secret passageway. Into the Honeyduke’s cellar.’

‘What the fuck, how do you know that?’ Marlene asked, now looking as confused as her remaining two friends, the cheeky grin gone.

‘Well -’

‘How the fuck do you know about the passageway?’

The deep-throated question almost made Dorcas jump out of her skin. She looked behind her shoulder to see a looming Sirius Black, with a less than pleased look on his face.

‘Ah. Makes sense now,’ Marlene muttered, Alice poking her leg under the table to shut up.

Dorcas stared back at Sirius, wide-eyed, who was now waiting expectantly for an answer from her, his grey eyes stormy. Dorcas couldn’t quite make any noise excite from her throat as Sirius scrutinised her.

‘I’m waiting,’ Sirius said calmly, his lips parted slightly. It was one of his looks that made the stomach of a certain blonde drop slightly.

To say Sirius was pissed was an understatement. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on with two of his closest friends recently, but he wasn’t a fan of it. It felt like he was learning something new about what they’d done every day and he wasn’t enjoying it.

‘Sirius, I don’t want to -’ Dorcas started, but she was cut off again.

‘Remus told you, didn’t he?’ Sirius spoke venomously, any hint of the usual amusement that laced his voice disintegrated.

‘ _No!_ No, Sirius, it wasn’t like tha-’

‘Use the passageway all you want,’ Sirius dismissed her as he started to take stride out of the Great Hall. ‘That’s not what I’m fucking mad about.’

The girls were left staring after him, unsure, the feeling sticking with them for the rest of the of the day, like a horse with a fly it couldn’t quite shake off. They didn’t see Sirius for the rest of the day, which was particularly strange as normally, in the evening, the Marauder’s could be seen on the best seats around the fireplace, joking and laughing away. This time, there were only Peter and Remus sat there, Remus finishing off some schoolwork and Peter who appeared to be sleeping.

Lily was enjoying one of the few days she had off from being a Prefect and patrolling the castle, ensuring that no students were up to mischief. She was spending her time off catching up on some reading she’d been delaying, much to Marlene’s dismay, who was attempting to distract her at any possible moment.

‘Don’t you have any work of your own to be doing, you dipshit?’ Lily, yet again, had to rip her book out of the blonde’s hands after it had been stolen, but this time whacking Marlene on the head with it, good-naturedly. Marlene sent her a scowl and crossed her arms haughtily over her chest.

‘Excuse me for trying to tempt you into doing something fun, I forgot you were apparently taking your NEWTs a year early,’ Marlene responded sarcastically, making Lily roll her eyes.

‘You are so bloody dramatic, you know that!’ Lily laughed. ‘You find it fun, scurrying around with Potter, being an imbecile, while I simply prefer spending my time not traumatising third years.’

‘That was _one_ time, how were we supposed to know that we’d found the most screechy Ravenclaw of all time?’ Marlene smirked at the memory of Professor McGonagall’s eyes widen drastically at the sight of the poor third year covered in blue slime and black feathers.

‘It was poorly though out anyway. You do know that the Ravenclaw eagle has brown feather and is in fact _not_ a raven,’ Lily giggle as Marlene continued to narrow her eyes on her.

‘Don’t rain on my parade, Red,’ Marlene countered, using the nickname that Lily hated.

‘You and Potter couldn’t do that film justice if you tried,’ Lily smirked to herself.

‘What?’

‘Nothing.’

Lily returned to her book, only to hear a panicked voice and a glint in Marlene’s eye a mere thirty seconds later, once again disrupting her from the beauty of _‘Salem’s Lot_.

‘Hey, Lily, sorry to trouble you, but I could really do with some help.’

Lily looked up to see a handsome, yet panicked Gideon Prewett looking down at her. She didn’t have to think twice about helping him.

‘Of course, what’s the problem?’ she asked instantly, wanting to punch Marlene for the smirk that was almost definitely playing on her pretty face.

‘My Prefect partner decided to go down with food poisoning and I really hate doing the rounds myself. I know it’s your day off and I’m really sorry for asking but would you mind doing them with me? I’ve asked around and the Prefect’s I’ve asked have said they can’t today and, obviously, I can’t ask someone who isn’t a Prefect,’ Gideon explained, rather frantically. He really wasn’t a fan of the dark.

The swelling Lily had felt in her chest from his question quickly deflated. She wasn’t his first choice to ask.

‘She would love to,’ Marlene chimed in, frowning slightly at Lily, who realised she hadn’t replied for a few moments. ‘Just let her grab a jumper and she’ll be right with you.’

‘Really?’ Gideon asked, his brown eyes flicking between Lily and Marlene in slight confusion from the response.

‘Uh, yes, of course. I just get chilly, hence the … jumper,’ Lily breathed awkwardly, flinging herself up the stairs to her dormitory without so much as looking at Gideon. She grabbed the first jumper she could find, which turned out to be Alice’s royal blue one, and ran back down to the Common Room, pulling it over her head before Marlene could corner her in the dormitory with questions.

Breathing erratically, she made her way back to Marlene and Gideon, forcing a smile on her face. Marlene could read Lily like the back of her hand, so she avoided all eye contact with the blonde for the foreseeable future.

‘Ready to go?’ she asked Gideon cheerfully. He nodded and the two of them headed out the portrait hole, en route of the patrol corridors.

‘You alright, Lily?’ Gideon asked, patching his long strides to her pace. ‘You seemed a bit skittish there.’

‘Oh, yes, I’m fine,’ Lily waved off the subject, still not able to bring herself to quite look at him. She didn’t know why his comments had affected her as much as they did. ‘How was the rest of your day after Potions?’

‘Not too bad, it was decent,’ Gideon responded, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets while Lily could only deem as the most attractive thing he could have possible done at the moment in time. ‘Had a bit of a tiff with Ems earlier, so I’m still trying to wrap my head around that a bit.’

Lily didn’t know where she got the confidence to say what she did next, not after the emotions she’d just been feeling mere seconds earlier.

‘You two seem to be arguing quite a bit lately,’ she let out into the atmosphere. She sucked in a breath as Gideon turned to face her.

‘What makes you say that?’ he asked, biting on the inside of his cheek.

‘Nothing, the two of you just seem a bit volatile at the minute,’ Lily attempted to soften the blow. ‘Girls talk, you know.’

‘I guess the honeymoon phase is well and truly over,’ Gideon sighed, scratching the back of his neck. ‘But then again, that happens to all couples.’

‘You two do seem to be at it and awful lot at the moment. Most days, Emmeline comes into our dorm room and is telling us all about a new one,’ Lily blurted out, unsure why she was doing so. She could feel the tension start to radiate off of the Prewett twin.

‘Does she now?’ he murmured. ‘Interesting.’

‘Of course, I’m sure it’s all in good spirit. It just seems never ending right now,’ Lily continued, unsure of why. She could feel something bubbling up inside of her. Something that hadn’t made her feel like a good person lately.

Marlene could have explained it in six words. Lily was angry at the world. Especially after everything she’d been through lately. It was no surprise she was starting to lash out. They were sixteen, and Lily was dealing with more than was imaginable at her age.

‘I might need to have a little conversation with her about that then,’ Gideon replied gently, teeth tugging at his lip.

‘Won’t that just amount to another argument?’ Lily asked, Gideon responding with a a short nod, his eyes trained on his pacing steps. ‘If you ask me, you deserve better.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Gideon stopped in his tracks, looking at Lily incredulously as she turned around to face him, the two of the standing a few paces away from each other in the dim-lit corridor.

‘I’m just saying that you deserve not to be arguing with someone for more than half of your relationship,’ Lily tried to put innocently. ‘It just doesn’t seem to be worth it.’

‘And what _does_ seem ‘worth it’ in your opinion, then?’ Gideon, asked, using his hands to gesture with. Lily couldn’t help but feel like she was either walking into a trap or saying a few of the best words she’d ever say.

‘Someone you can rely on. Someone who’s kind and sweet and does everything in their power to put a smile on your face. Someone who doesn’t give a damn about what other people think of the two of you together, someone who would open a vein in their arm if them bleeding could just bring you happiness. And definitely someone who doesn’t flirt with every other boy behind your back -’

‘Watch your mouth, Evans,’ Gideon growled.

‘I’m just saying she doesn’t appreciate you,’ Lily replied quickly. She had never seen Gideon so worked up, his eyes narrowed to slits and placed on her.

And then he let out a humourless laugh.

‘She fucking told me,’ he scoffed, tearing his eyes off of Lily while running a hand through his thick, red hair.

‘What?’ Lily asked, confused at Gideon’s sudden change of stance, putting her on edge.

‘Ems,’ Gideon stated. ‘She told me you had a little crush on me. I didn’t believe her. Or, better so, I thought even if there was a tiny, miniscule possibility that you did fancy me a bit, you’d be the type of person who would respect both myself and _especially_ Ems, and not come onto me in this way. Boy, was she right and I wrong.’

‘Gideon, I -’

‘Save it, Lily, I’m not interested. I never thought that you, of all people, would behave in this way. I thought there was more good in you than that,’ Gideon spoke harshly.

‘I never -’

‘I’m going to ask Slughorn to switch us from being partners tomorrow, I think that’s for the best. We probably shouldn’t speak for a while. I’ll continue with these round, you better head back to the Common Room,’ Gideon said coldly, making his way around Lily and walked into the darkness of the corridor.

Lily could feel her lip start to tremble as she stared after him. She tried to take in a deep breath but was losing the capability as she felt tears start to race down her face. To avoid any uncomfortable confrontation of false sympathy, she ran to the first empty classroom she could find. 

She crumpled to the stone floor against the cold wall of that classroom, her heart racing and her breathing proving more difficult. She felt out of her own body, detached from her senses as she shook against hard wall, unable to compose herself.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t handle this bully of a year any longer. Every time she felt she could pick herself back up a little, something new was smacking her straight back down into the pit she started from. All of her main points of comfort were gone, she couldn’t use any of them. She felt she was burning up, wasting away, drowning with no help to pull her up.

Her heart had cracked like glass in so many places in the past year and nothing was putting it back together, there was no glue strong enough to fix the pieces. There wasn’t enough of her to rebuild it either, she had nothing left to give. Lately, life had taken everything out of her and gave her nothing to replace it with, not even temporarily. She wasn’t made for this. She wasn’t prepared to lose so much.

‘Evans? Lily?’ she heard a voice whisper in her ear, bring her back to earth, back to the confining walls of the Hogwarts castle.

She looked up from where she hadn’t realised her head was tucked between her arms and chest on her knees. She looked up through tear stained eyes to see a pools of chocolate staring back her through glass frames.

‘Evans?’

‘Fuck off, Potter,’ she said softly, the usual vengeance in her well-known phrase gone. She should have known that James Potter wasn’t one to give up easily.

‘Hey, hey,’ he said kindly, shuffling himself round to put an arm around her and pull Lily into his chest to comfort.

Lily couldn’t help it. She melted into him, his warmth enveloping her like the roar of a fire. She buried her face into his chest, clung onto his shirt and cried. It was the most comforting cry she’d had in a while, a cry where she was being held. A cry where it felt okay to do so.

James didn’t say anything as Lily cried into his shirt, into him. He wished nothing more than the ability to flick a switch and make her feel better, he would have given up anything to do so. Seeing the redheaded girl, a girl that meant so much to him, cry in this way made him sick to his stomach.

Did anyone know she was feeling this way, that she was so broken? Was anyone paying attention that he’d stopped? Why had he stopped, why was he not looking out for her, why had he allowed this to happen, for it to get so bad? Lily had never been a friend, but she’d never been a stranger. He’d almost always known what was going on in her life, and now, if you were to ask him, he wouldn’t know where to start.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispered into her hair, knowing she wouldn’t hear. He simply held her close, making it known that she wasn’t alone.

‘I’m sorry,’ Lily murmured to him, lifting herself up a bit. ‘I’m sorry you have to see me like this, you shouldn’t be. You shouldn’t even be bothering to help me, not after how awfully I’ve treated you all these years.’

‘Shh,’ James cooed, holding her tighter. ‘I will always be here, whether you want me or not, Red. I will always be here for you.’

He was speaking the complete and utter truth. He would sit with Lily Evans until the rest of time if it was just to make her feel better, to make her laugh. Even if it took everything out of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ..... She's back ;)  
> I don't even know where to begin other than to say a massive, big, incredible thank you to the love, support and patience so many of you have shown me over the past month that I've not been able to post a chapter. I can't even begin to describe how much this all means to me and how I feel like I've genuinely found one of the loveliest communities there is to be a part of on the internet. Your comments, DM's and just general words of kindness have meant so much to me and that fact that I've not received any complaint about how disgracefully incompetent I've been in posting only spurs me on to write more. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much <3.  
> I hope you've enjoyed this little chapter, despite it truly being quite sad. I promise you all that there is more cheerful stuff coming, but sixth year seems to be a rough one for many at the moment.   
> Also, how did you enjoy the little splash of Jily ;) the development is beginning, so to all my Jily fans, I hope you're as bloody excited as I am to begin this journey.   
>  I also sincerely hope that my writing has not gotten a thousand times worse since last time, although I wouldn't be surprised. Also, please leave any ideas you would like to see incorporated in the story down below and I will definitely try to include them. As much as I am writing this, this is all our story :)  
> Again, that you so much for all your love, and I can't wait for you guys to see what I have in store next for our beloved characters,  
> All my love, Julia xx

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :)  
> Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter, it's honestly an honour. In the midst of my boredom in isolation, I decided to finally take a stab at what I've been wanting to do for a very long time and finally write myself a Marauders fanfiction. I've had so many ideas for so long and started writing them on Word, but I decided I also want to share it. All your support is so appreciated and wonderful and I hope you enjoy. Please feel free as well to send me any notes or criticism about the story as well as any prompts you'd like to throw in and I'll give you full credit for ideas, gift you the work. Buckle up, cos this is going to be a long one ;).  
> Love, Julia xx


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